Snow Report from New Zealand

According to the locals, this the earliest snow has ever arrived in Wanaka. As soon as I landed about 2 weeks ago and found someone who owned both skinny skis and a car I've been literally up above the clouds skiing at the fabled Snow Farm as often as I can. Unfortunately, this is only on the weekend, when I'm off work and can get up the 12 km mountain road with enough daylight to spare for a good workout. This is a minor drawback, however, because during the week I can go on runs during my lunch break that look like this:


I've worked out a deal with the owners of the Snow Farm where I'm instructing in the mornings and can ski in the afternoons for free. So far it's been mostly little kids for a Bill Koch-like program on Saturday mornings and the odd private lesson. My respect for for whoever taught me to ski when I was 6 or 7 has increased exponentially in the 4 days I've been up there, but it's all worth it.

50k of groomed trails.

Necessary gymnast/rock star pose.

With high school teammate Mary (Williams 06) who was in town for a few days on vacation. I haven't quite got the hang of the self-timer.

To everyone back home: I want updates of your summers! Now!
-A

PS- when I was taking a break at work today I was catching up on my Johnny Klister and found this gem:

Exciting things that have happened so far this summer:

1. I thought I got swine flu. Turns out it was just some virus that has left me with a hacking cough for the past 2 weeks. The following items therefore have nothing whatsoever to do with training.

2. We got a new TV. Woohoo.

Hi Dad.

3. I went up on the roof of my house for the first time. I found out I'm a little afraid of heights.

4. Steve ran a 4:15 1600 at states yesterday.
Look closely and you can see a lightning bolt, he's going so fast.

5. I looked at my calendar and saw that I'm leaving for New Zealand in 3 days!

Wow.
My next post will be from the Southern Hemisphere, hopefully all about skiing.
-AM

The quaint town of Homer, Alaska (notice the lack of houses...):A moose off the back deck of the place I'm staying:

Here's a post from Homer, Alaska. This is the first evening that the internet connection has been working for the past two weeks. The government has blocked all interesting websites (like blogs and Facebook) at work, so I haven't gotten to post anything.

My boss gave me some roller ski poles last week, so I went skiing along the 3 mile bike path (back and forth a few times to turn it into an OD of sorts). Photographic evidence forthcoming....as soon as I find my camera cable.

The biggest hazards in Homer: moose and heroin. Hypodermic needles were discovered in one of the NOAA boats the other day, so they are worried that one of the interns will sit down on one and get AIDS. Also, I almost ran into a moose the other day while I was out biking. Some old lady was watching the incident and clearly thought I was a young hooligan.

Hoorah for summer training!!

Over and out.

T-revs

Back in the Boonies

HEYO!!!!

So I'm back in Maine now. Have been for a couple days. Thought that the blog needed some spicing up and I couldn't look at Anna's last post anymore. I wish I had more to update, but there's not a whole lot going on in my home town. My car still kinda works and cops are still very hard to find unless you are going about 90 in a 25. The weather's been awful, 40's and raining all week, and its supposed to continue. BUT, I didn't let that dampen my spirits. I went out for a run yesterday with my old training buddy. It was my first mudrun in many months and man was it satisfying. I wish I had taken pictures at the time, but pictures of my shoes will have to suffice (just imagine mud all the way up my legs from running through pits that were up to my knees in places).

Evidence of sweet sweet mud

Evidence of terrible terrible weather

I also went down to Portland on Tuesday (very exciting) and stopped by peak performance for new rollerski wheels. They had to order the wheels (I'm using some old V2 900's). I looked at the skis afterwards and realized that the back of one ski had been souldered back together, I'm really really hoping it stay s together.

Normal

Souldered (notice the rather significant bend)

Well thats all I have for now, and there's a pan of mac and cheese and a gallon jug of milk that are requesting my attention now, so until next time, have some good summers.

Tor

Over and Out

A week ago, all of us put on unfamiliar clothes and shoes in which we struggled to walk, ate some fancy food, exchanged gifts and thank yous, and officially called it quits for the '08-'09 ski season. After four years of Harvard skiing, I, along with David Woods McCahill (alias "Badman"), wrapped up our careers as Harvard athletes. Our banquet was 4 hours long and I never really got to say even of the things that I wanted to about Harvard Skiing. As such, I reserve the right to be sentimental and cheesy in the following blog post.

Skiing is the best thing that ever happened to me. My earliest memories of skiing involve a lot of crashes, a hand-me-down snowsuit (which was still purple, despite the fact that all of my older siblings/cousins were boys), and serious bribery in the form of M&Ms. The only reason that I liked racing was because when I first started, I was still able to beat my little brother. I also had a huge crush on Cam MacKugler, which was sub-optimal because I'm pretty sure that he and Ida Sargent kept sneaking off and making out in bathrooms. Then a few years down the road, Peter Graves sweet-talked me into applying to Harvard. Sheer laziness kept me from filling out any other applications, so I wound up at a school that is completely foreign in every way from everything that I was used to at age 18. It has Asians and black people, it has people who are smarter than I am, and it is situated in a city, which means that it has homeless people, traffic lights, ethnic food that does not come from Wok 'n' Roll, and a dearth of dirt roads, hills, and snow.

Harvard is not an easy place to ski. I'd argue that its location forces any motivated skier to be more creative, more dedicated, and more immune to boredom than skiers at any other college in the EISA. In trying to be all of those things alongside many of my teammates, I found that I forged some of the best friendships of my life. I'm leaving this program and this school with memories and friends that I wouldn't swap for Petter Northug. (That's a lie, but not too much of a lie, so I'm leaving it there for dramatic effect). Because I came to Harvard to ski, I have had the opportunity to feed Chris Nabel out of pudding-filled paper cups for two straight weeks, the privilege of having Dave's assorted footwear nauseating every Jordan resident, and the honor of seeing the entire girls team naked.

So in just over a month I'm outta here. Where I'm going and what I'm doing, I don't know, but I do know that I'll miss you guys. So thanks for the good times.

Over and out,

Schlutzerrrr

Harvard Nordic Views CSU Head Coach Rob Bradlee's Chest Hair

That's right, pterodactyls, chest hair. Last night, illustrious head coach of the Cambridge Sports Union's rockstar junior team (many of whom are posting impressive results at JOs right now), raced in a slick, bell-bottomed, one-piece disco suit unzipped to his belly button. There were hip thrusts when he received his medal for the Tuesday Night race series.

But seriously, ski friends, last night, Audrey, coaches Scushman and City, and myself raced with more characters than usual in CSUs final Tuesday night costume race extravaganza! Think 'clown on high fluoros,' a beekeeper, 60-year-old Harry Potter, scuba man in full wetsuit, tank, and cardboard flippers, santa with a backpack full of teddy bears, a single Blues Brother, and Andy Milne in a white retro uni. And, of course:

Richard Simmons, Just-look-at-those-snowpants, and the Dairy Fairy!

Honorable mention to Anna's headband, Tor's mini Fischers, Cara for loaning me her boots. Every other piece of clothing courtesy of your's truly (and don't worry, I also made Audrey race sans jacket. Not shown, Chris City, sporting the old purple Harvard suit, pants, and jacket. I can't tell you how many times my udder got felt up. But at least I won a hat for it!

Love,
M

P.S. In other news, Dave makes the same noise waking up as when he jumps out from behind doors and tries to scare Shannon and Clare. I know because ski fan Kyra Hill and I bought him a late night thesis care package of double stuffed Oreos, gummies, and Red Bull, only to find him asleep. Good to see that sleep still remains a high priority even in times of stress. Although I don't think he was sleeping in a Snuggie.

Fan shout out! Badman, Matt Coogan, and sister superfans Alyssa and Kyra Hill at Dartmouth!

Help a Friend in Need, Buy a Snuggie....

Confused? Don't be! See this plea for help from a true Harvard Skiing Fan; she specifically requested that we post her email on our blog to help make do on her "terrible blunder".

It's okay, Tami. Harvard Skiing <3's you. Forever and always.

Dear all,

Many of you have heard about "the snuggy" on infomercials and various other enriching programs. Recently, I thought I would take advantage of their "buy one get one free" offer online. Unfortunately, pure greed and misunderstanding led me to a terrible blunder. After I thought I had placed my orders, it seemed as though they were offering to give me 3 more free snuggies. "3 more free snuggies?!" i thought, and I clicked yes (absolutely). Instead, what they charged me for, was 4 sets of snuggies, totaling $125. When I saw this, I realized a) why americans are stupid b) why i am a stupid american and c)that i have learned my lesson about ordering from infomercials. never again (with the one exception being that hair braiding device I've had my eye on). I currently have 8 snuggies.

anyway, as i don't want to deal with the pain in the ass of mailing all of these f-ers back-- which i will do post-thesis. I wanted to extend to you the very special (risk free) opportunity of buying a snuggy off of me. I will only charge you $10 dollars for them and the first person to respond will get a free book light (it came with my snuggies).

If I can get 6 people to respond, I will not mail the snuggy's back and I will cut my losses.

If you are unsure of what a snuggy is exactly, please see here: https://www.getsnuggie.com/flare/next

Chloe, please spare me of your mocking, the pain is already great enough.

Peace be with you,

Tami