Let it snow!

Last night we got another 4 inches of fresh snow - now I wish I had registered for the American Birkebeiner (34 mile cross country ski race) this year because the race is tomorrow and the conditions are perfect!!!

But I did get up early to meet Guy at 6:30 this morning to run a few extra miles before meeting the rest of the group at 7:30. Here is a pic just before the sun rose and made everything all shiny and bright.

Nothing had been plowed except the road between the park entrance and the beach, so we just ran back and forth to the lake. Sounds horribly boring, but it wasn't! - it's a winding road with beautiful forest and ski trails on either side, and everything was covered with snow and we got to watch the sunrise through the trees...  so it worked. We had aimed for 15 or so miles, but only managed 11 because it was just so darn ICY... and the wind -whew. It's a hilly road down to the water and we were all just slipping and sliding all over the place - My Garmin said I burned 968 calories, but I'm fairly certain I get extra credit for the core workout of just holding myself upright. ;-)

After the run the 8 of us went to The Original Pancake House in Maple Grove. (Susan L - where are the pics??) It was my first time there and I can't say I loved it. But man, people line up outside just to get in. It's the Swedish kind of paannenkukens (I'm sure I misspelled that), which are really egg-y griddle baked cakes slathered in sugar and apples and probably cream and butter. It tasted okay, but was probably thousands of calories. Maybe I'll get on the trainer tonight. Nah - that's a lie. ;-)

Bobby's friend Jeremy, (Guy and Susan's son -- I've posted pics of them running 5k's together - they're in 5th and 6th grade) is the goalie for his hockey team, and today he got a shut-out in the tournament! Way to go Jeremy! It was his first one this season and you should have seen his teammates pounce on him after the final buzzer. They were thrilled; it was awesome. He played a really great game and they won 3-0. They play again tomorrow so maybe we'll bring our good luck and cheer him on. Gotta see what else is on the calendar, but it was a really exciting game.

Have a good night everybody!

xoxoxo

p.s. - if you are running with Gear West tomorrow at 8:00 - call me.