The Olympics are over…what an end to an amazing 17 days!
On Friday I packed both my running gear and my swim gear to work. I needed to knock out my long run over lunch that day. Since this was a cutback week my long run was 59 minutes with 3 x 8 minute steady state intervals in the middle. It was beautiful and sunny out, and an astounding 5C out. Amazing! The run went really well and I was able to hit my pace goals with no problems during the intervals.
After the run though? I was bagged! Runs like these during the work day seem to make me quite tired. So…sadly I didn’t make it to the pool after work like I planned. No swims for me all week. Oops. I did make it to Costco to pick up lift tickets for Sunshine on Friday night though, then home to take in the nail biting and amazing Canada vs. Slovakia men’s hockey game.
You see I had to run on Friday because I planned to spend all day at Sunshine taking a semi-private lesson with a few folks and my XC instructor (who also teaches downhill at Sunshine on Saturdays). While it wasn’t very sunny out at Sunshine it certainly was warm and I was looking forward to attempting to conquer the slopes. We spent the morning on the magic carpet running, working on turns, attempting parallel turns. Well, I never actually made it to parallel turns as I just kept working on my turning skills. We stopped for lunch and then it was time to master traversing across slopes. The traversing went okay until I tried to combine that with turns. I just wasn’t able to trust my right foot to help me turn left, despite the fact that I was able to master right turns. My friends took off for a green run and I…stayed on the magic carpet. I tried not to be dejected. I wanted to be picking this up a lot faster but I knew I wasn’t ready to head out on a run just yet. Learning to ski as an adult is hard stuff. I’m not sure if I just have a tough relationship with winter sports or if I’m letting my fear of hurting myself in my Ironman year get in the way of things. I do want to persevere, although I think it will be tougher to find the time to hit the slopes between now and the end of the ski season.
On the way home I popped into the Grizzly Paw in Canmore for a bit of dinner. The place was hopping as the men’s curling gold medal game was on – Canada versus Norway! I have to say that watching curling in a pub is a whole lot more fun than watching it at home. The atmosphere was electric and everyone was so excited when Canada won the gold medal. I sat next to a fun couple who have been learning to curl recently. The lady was cheering for Norway (quietly) because she thought the Norwegian skip was cute. I personally was a fan of Norway’s pants, which are so popular that they even have their own fan page on Facebook with 574,137 fans.
If you watched the games, what did you think? The US did an amazing job in the medal haul, and Canada definitely owned the gold medal podium. I think there were so many inspirational stories about the athletes at these games and it was amazing to follow along. It truly felt as though the games united many of us across the country and inspired a definite feeling of national pride. Now what am I going to do with all of those extra hours in the day that won’t be spent watching the games though?? Maybe catch up on blogs? :)
12 comments:
Wow, interesting. It wasn't until your post that I went and double-checked the medal count. Didn't realize Canada had taken the gold podium with 14...dang. A winter olympic record.
I saw that game and it was amazing! I'm so proud of Canada!
You always seem to rise above and I am sure you will with the downhill skiing! Your persistence will pay off, if not this winter then next.
With the Olympics over, now it is time to rest the eyes and work the legs!
lol i heard about that facebook group. they are fun pants!
i am the same - a lot more scared as an adult than i was when i was a kid! weird how that turns out... i'm not as afraid of the dark anymore though, for the most part ;) i'm sure you will become a ski-pro in no time!
didn't you have the best of both worlds with the us and canada doing so well in the olympics? either way you cheered you didn't lose!
I tried to learn how to snowboard as an adult and it was SO hard!! I can surf, but this was way different. There were little kids in my class and they were zipping all around. I was flat on my butt. Good on you for keeping at it and knowing your limits. BE CAREFUL.
And HOOORAY for the Olympics. I'm sad they are over. I too will be a better blogger.
It was a great Olympics. The athletes showed their stuff to the world, and Canada did a fine job of pulling it off...
I LOVED the Olympics and really liked what CTV's Brian Williams said about the patriotism and national pride evinced by these games. He said that in the 13 Olympics he's seen, he has never seen anything like it...
Then he said he talked to Stephen Harper about this electric display of national pride and he responded along the lines of, "It's always been there, it just needed a trigger..." (My paraphrase)
It is so true!! All while growing up through school, I always learned how Canada struggled with an "identity." For the first time, I FELT this power of national pride with millions of other Canadians!!
It was such an amazing experience to walk into a grocery store, go to the pool, wherever my daily errands took me and immediately connect with everyone (friends and strangers alike!) through the power of the Olympics!
Amazing!! :) :) :) :) :)
I give you credit for sticking with the ski lessons! I definitely think it's one of those things that would be hard to pick up as an adult. Can you imagine trying to learn how to ride a bike now? We're so much bigger and heavier... which means we go down harder!
It's sad to see the Olympics over, but we sure did end on a high note!
I don't remember getting as into the winter olympics as much as I did this year. I will have to say shame on NBC for some of their filler stories, like polar bears during primetime but other than that I loved every second I watched. I wish Primetime started at 6 or 7 instead of 8 though.
Wow, nice run over lunch, I haven't been able to do lunch runs but I'm loving lunch swims (well, at least the one I completed).
Those are some crazy pants!
And I do think skiing is one of those sports that is harder to learn as an adult than as a kid, and similarly bicycling, swimming, gymnastics. Many adults are more afraid of falling and getting hurt but also they don't seem to learn the same way kids do, which is largely by feel and experimenting. I've been told I think too much. Yet I can do a cartwheel w/o even thinking since I learned as a kid.
This was post #8 of yours that was unread as of today. Wonder why I'm behind on blogs. :)
Here's one for you to consider... I watched the gold medal hockey game at the curling club. Things that make you go hmmmmmm.
Loved the Norwegian curling pants. So colorful. And fun!
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