Monday, February 17, 2014

EMBRACE IT!

I've begun to realize that sometimes in ski racing, conditions are far from ideal. Our carnival team learned that this weekend when they skated through some serious pow at prospect, which was accurately described [by I can't remember who] over the phone on Saturday night as, "very rough for the tall people." Our eastern cup women's team learned that this weekend as well, when we arrived within the hour to race start, hopping out of the van which we parked a walk away from the venue... it was a scramble to find bibs,  DOR, or as the sign said... "LATE" register, and get changed with time to do the ideal warm up... without skiing the course. So yeah, not ideal. It was more of a scramble than I can describe here. We were no Bowdoin, we had 50 more minutes than they did, but it was frazzling. 

In January we were snow-barren at Pineland. It was a TT day, but the weather...  not havin' it. Our beloved Oak Hill was ice, ice baby. So at the 11th hour, Becky said, "10 minutes to warm up, then interval workout!" It wasn't a big deal, but it threw us off. Knowing this, we got a little pep talk. Becky said something along the lines of... Things don't always go as planned. Our plan changed... adjust. Move on, and if you can't, I guarantee I'm going to see it in your skiing.       Yikes!  We all adjusted, and we worked like a team to have a great morning of intervals. 

That's what I was thinking of when we started to warm up on Saturday morning. Get over it... you sure as heck don't want anyone to know how flustered you're feeling! And we did just that. All five women bobcats were in the top 22... and the men had a good day, too!

So Bowdoin on Saturday, along with our E cup women, and our tall people... we all got over it, got our heads in the game, moved on, and skied well. Pretty awesome.

This time of year, there's midterms, carnivals, Eastern Cups, and also life. Chaos all around. Everybody's tired. But I know I'm not alone in realizing that they are a few pretty amazing things about this whole deal. First, what our bodies can accomplish when they are tired is pretty amazing. Second, the resiliency and flexibility that athletes can practice while under pressure is inspiring. And last, gosh, this is just a blast. So whatever comes your way... embrace it! 

-Tara 

Wednesday, February 12, 2014

Dartmouth Carnival

If you ventured to the Craftsbury Outdoor Center around 4:30 on Thursday afternoon, you would have seen a sea of nearly one hundred people skiing through the forest on beautiful white snow, then gather together in a clearing to the hear the words of a few Dartmouth skiers. The EISA community and others joined together at Craftsbury to honor Torin Tucker, a member of Dartmouth's nordic ski team.  His teammates put together a thoughtful and inspiring memorial ski.
The cairn in honor of Torin (Annie Hart photo)
Friday's races included a 5k skate for the women and 10k skate for the men. 
This weekend combined a Super Tour and a carnival, so we got to mix it up with some big dogs, which was great!
Here are a few photos from Friday:
Corky (EISA photo)

Nick (EISA photo)
Saturday's races included a 15k classic for the women and 20k classic for the men.
Usually races of these lengths are mass starts, but this weekend the organizers changed it up a bit and they were individual start races. It's a bit of a different ball game racing that distance alone!
Corky (EISA photo)

Jane (EISA photo)
Gracie (EISA photo)
Hallie (EISA photo)

Nate (EISA photo)
Sadie- best carnival finish yet! (EISA photo)

Sean leads a train (NENSA photo)

Monday, February 10, 2014

UVM Carnival/ Eastern Cup in Pictures

Maddy charging

Nick looking like a boss

This made it to the cover photo of the Nensa Facebook page

Filly killin it

Game face

Highlight of the day

Gabby was pumped!

Britta modeling the very popular Bobtat

Wade F. Rosko in the heats

LAUREL IS SO PUMPED

Bobcats everywhere


Sadie leading it in for the B finals

Gracie with a strong finish at the A finals

Eastern Cup skiers for a nice home cooked meal


Keep thinking snow,
Emmett