JD14 and 15 – What skiing with kids actually entails

• Start all preps early in the morning;
• Talk positively about snow and mountains in front of THEM;
• Let THEM eat and drink well;
• Force  Patiently convince THEM to dress up using the clothes YOU selected (HIDE summer dresses and swim suits);
• Load the car with ALL the gear;
• Ignore you neighbor laughing as bits and pieces cannot be fitted in the trunk;
• Strategically place chocolade, cookies and other treats in all your pockets and backpacks;
• Forgot gloves? Don’t despare, it happens to all of us despite double checking;
• Ignore their tears when gearing up under the slope;
• Ignore their tears when getting on the lift;
• Ignore their tears when reaching the top station of the lift;
• Ignore everything;
• Push them firmly gently towards the bottom of the slope;
• Continuously yell: “Make a pizza point!”, “Turn!” and “Stop!” – chances are they will ignore you just like you did earlier but you do diminish the risk of them getting killed;
• Enjoy!

Day 14 and 15: Skiing

 

Cross Country

Life Without A Plan is good. Suddenly, many new ideas come up and I am open to them. Like cross country skiing which I am picking up after 20 years (!). Last Sunday, I re-discovered the 1000 m loop around Uttendorf lake and some other parts of the Pinzga Loipe.  And last night, as I was running in the neighborhood,  I saw that even our very own Badesee here in Niedernsill has a skating track around it and 4-5 lamps that keep it (sort of) enlightened.

Tonight after the dinner I will check it out with skis rather than with running shoes.

JD27 – Powderrrrrr!

Despite my conviction that ALL the snow fell today on our parking lot (2.5 hours of firm shovel work, thank you) there was some minor snowfall reported on the surrounding ski lopes as well. So tonight was the night: 1.5 hours in heavenly fresh and virgin powder snow. Quarter of a meter of it. NO people. SHEER fun.

 

JD22 – Happy hour

One short email in my inbox this morning predetermined today’s Janathon’s activity: the local ski slope was supposed to re-open for the evening skiing again. One phone call (instant babysitter order) further we knew it was our time again!

Of course the girls did not want to go to bed and of course there was a never ending amount of urgent work… but nothing could stop us and we made it to the parking lot under the slope by 8 pm. There were signs of Happy hour everywhere – but what kind of Happy hour was this? The answer waited at the cashier: tonight was the one-night-in-the-season when the evening skiing only cost EUR 1 per person!

Well, dear reader, add the fact that there were NO OTHER SKIERS there and the lift was operating only for us and we had the entire slope all for ourselves and call me a lucky girl!

It took us less than 2 hours to entirely exhaust ourselves… and then we drove home, showered, logged and blogged :-).

JD08 – Back in the race

Well, sort of. Staying inside does not make me feel any better so we gave it a shot last night and went for a quick evening skiing session again. Little more than an hour – but when the whole slope is there just for 4 people, one can get really tired after an hour ‘workout’.

Running nose and happy faces :-). Janathon rules!

 

Ski, swim and bramboraky

I know this blog should be predominantly about running but there are so many other things in my life that take place, too. After several months without visiting my mother who lives in Prague (I don’t like driving in winter), last Thursday we hit the road again as mom offered us to cook bramboraky, the traditional Czech ‘potato pancakes’, the one meal we cannot resist :-).

After 9 hours on the German highway, the fabulous smell of fried rasped potatoes with garlic, herbs and pieces of chicken meat (my mom’s special variety of bramboraky) guided us home. We spent a nice Friday in Prague, walking around, visiting friends, enjoying the first spring days. And then on Saturday early morning we hit the road again, this time to Zell am See and Kaprun for some more skiing.

In Kaprun, a new huge spa was opened recently so we had to visit. We spent 3 lazy hours there (there goes my Saturday running…) during which we hardly managed to swim 500 metres (”Honey, lets swim a bit otherwise I have nothing to log these days”) and the only thing that came to mind after that was enjoying a nice glass of beer in the near pub.

On Sunday the guilt feeling (no running since Wednesday night) combined with blue sky made us get up early again. We could see the Kitzsteinhorn Glacier bathing in the morning sun and although nowadays I am really keen on running, so far NOTHING beats the feeling of fresh crispy snow under my feet and high snowy mountains around me. We allowed ourselves the luxury of half a day skiing knowing we still had 10 hours to drive home… and it was absolutely worth it.

Now on Monday evening I am logging and blogging and hopefully still finding time for some running. My body won’t be fooled by any other excercise.

P.S. Back from my evening run. Rule to remember: do NOT drink water after eating plums (or do not eat too many plums).

Back in lowlands

As some of you already know, our quick US holiday week was great. We have managed to ski, walk, run, ride a snowmobile and of course talk (and drink) with friends and enjoy our free time.

Some statistics for our Seattle/Eureca week below:

Running: 26 km (all my solo early morning runs with loads of endorphins)

Skiing: 3 days (all powder snow!!!)

Snow mobile: 24 miles.

Snow mobile accidents (falls into tree wells): 2

Children tought how to ski: 2

Total children met: 9

Eureka!

Monday morning 6.30 in Eureka, Montana: Holiday, fresh snow, company of friends (all asleep). Putting on my running gear and quietly leaving the house while it is still dark. The main road through Tobacco Valley is not far and and as I am trying to carefully place my feet on the slippery surface, my breath freezes.

The only sound I hear comes from under my feet as my shoes crush the frozen snow. The sensation remains fascinating every day. I run.

Later on, after a true American breakfast, we leave the house to spend a wonderful sunny day skiing in Whitefish.