Laura Valaas

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Hog Loppet

Last weekend I managed to complete the 2011 Hog Loppet for the first time since… 1997?? That’s a long time ago! They’ve made a lot of improvements to the grooming and the course was mostly well groomed (except for the very first tromp through the trees).

Here’s a screen shot of the route. You can also view more information about my ski on Saturday HERE.

 

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BMT finish line fall

Just in case you’re not regularly checking up on the Skadi Nordic Blog…

fall 1

fall 1

fall 2

fall 2

fall 4

fall 4

fall 5

fall 5

fall 6

fall 6

fall 7

fall 7

fall 8

fall 8

fall 9

fall 9

fall 10

fall 10

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Boulder Mountain Tour

Kirsten & Father & Uncle Andy & I all participated in this year’s Boulder Mountain Tour, and all for our very first time. I have to say that it wasn’t quite the thrilling competitive event that I had always imagined my first BMT would be, but that was 100% my fault and was actually just fine. I was back with the red lantern carriers, or so it felt, but I had a very pleasant ski and cruised my way down the course. Post race, while we waited for the rest of the family members to cross the finish line, my C.A. & I scouted for evidence that the new Skadi Nordic Squishy Ski Tie was infiltrating the market. We met with surprising success. And I am convinced that the Skadi Ski Tie is going to be the next big thing in Nordic Skiing.

lost and found

lost and found

ski ties walking

ski ties walking

ski ties 2

ski ties 2

ski ties 1

ski ties 1

bus

bus

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Bike… fit

bike fit

Checking bike fit... or just enjoying the landscape!

One of my cycling guru friends took a picture of me on the bike so as to educate me about proper bike fit. But I just look at it and say, “the open landscape is sooooo pretty!”

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Twix…?

So now that Toko & Swix are owned by the same company, maybe they should try a rebranding strategy…

Toko + Swix = Twix

Toko + Swix = Twix

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Shower

So I was out for a run and I went up this long dirt driveway to see where it lead. It was not quite as long as I had hoped but it did lead to a sweet little pine-board getaway. The best part of this place was that it had an outdoor shower on the deck. The shower apparatus was attached to a big old pine tree that made up one corner of the shower and there was glass on three sides and open on the fourth. No drain, the water just went through the deck boards and down the mountainside.

I was so tempted to take a shower. I didn’t. But I might go back.

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Chip-sealing

I got an email today as follows:

“Tired of chip sealed roads?”

lav: yes!

“dust, rock chips, asphalt tar on your car. And now you can’t road bike, roller ski, skateboard, skate, etc for several years until it gets worn smooth. And then they just do it again!!!”

lav: well, I kind of like the asphalt-tar-on-the-car look, but I HATE rollerskiing on chip-sealed roads. so awful.

“There are other choices that can be used!”

lav: i know, but they must be cost-prohibitive otherwise no one would chip-seal, right?

Asphalt Seal Coat Options
Source: US Forest service comparative study – http://www.fs.fed.us/t-d/pubs/html/99771201/99771201.htm

lav: wrong. as i so often am.

“Chelan County has never done a serious review of these more modern sealing practices, and prefer to stick with their “old school” chip seal method as it is what they know well.”

lav: typical

“The County is currently planning to chip seal the White River Road next Wednesday. Please contact Jolene and Keith as soon as possible and ask them to use another method to seal this roadway.”

Jolene.gosselin-campbell@co.chelan.wa.us
keith.goehner@co.chelan.wa.us

lav: yes indeed. so i drafted and emailed a letter as follows.

Dear Jolene (Dear Keith),

I have heard that there are plans to chip seal the White River Road next week. While I appreciate everything the county does to maintain the roads and public lands, I would like to draw your attention to several modern alternatives to chip sealing.

(insert table of seal coat options)

While chip sealing has been a common practice in the past, many other WA counties and western states successfully have switched to more bike friendly methods of road sealing. Using chip seal on the roads, especially roads such as the White River road, which are beautiful & popular roads for rollerskiing and cycling, is not only less pleasant for the outdoor enthusiasts in Chelan County, it is a safety hazard. On a smoothly sealed road, I quite happily rollerski or spin my way along the shoulder. If the road is chip sealed I, and every other cyclist or rollerskier I have ever met, will ski or cycle in the vehicle lane where the car tires make the chip seal much smoother than on the shoulder. This is a much more dangerous place to be as a cyclist or rollerskier but new chip seal can quickly cause your hands (cycling) or feet (rollerskiing) to lose sensation, which also has its dangers.

Another solution would be to recommend cylists & rollerskiers to stay home and watch ESPN instead. But is that the message Chelan County wants to give to it’s residents?

Thank you for taking the time to understand my concerns and I do hope you will be willing to explore the alternatives to chip sealing.

Laura Valaas


Feel free to copy and paste my message to Jolene and Keith also (addresses above) even if you’re not local… first one road, then the entire WORLD.

(This Message was brought to you by the friendly folk at Plain Hardware.)

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A Difference

I woke up early this morning and went for a run. It was a very enjoyable run. Then I had a very nice yoga session with my new kitten.

Aside: We got the most adorablest, cutest, tiniest, friendliest, lovablest kitten yesterday and said kitten spent most of yoga curled up squarely in the middle of my mat. She even managed to crawl up onto my lap and onto my belly between seated forward bend and bridge. Then I went straight into half-wheel (also known as a back bend for the rest of y’all) and she was perfectly content to perch on top. Shoulder stand to pike rolled her off though. Soooo Cute. End Aside.

I realized, as I was contemplating how nice my run was and how nice it was to stretch out afterward, that THIS run existed for me as a complete and separate entity, apart from any other run or workout or whathaveyou. It started at a certain point in my day, I ran, I came home, it was Good. For so long each run existed as only a part of a whole, one piece in the SkiFaster Puzzle. An individual workout was a means to attaining a goal. Of course I enjoyed my workouts but a huge part of that enjoyment was knowing it was bringing me one step closer to accomplishing something bigger. A run always had its place as 2hours OF THE 800 and I was always very aware after a workout of how that workout fit into the grander scheme of things.

This morning I ran just for the day. Exactly as I felt like running today. I didn’t think about what I had (er… hadn’t, rather) done yesterday, I didn’t think about what workout was happening tomorrow. I didn’t think about getting faster for some far distant race. I simply ran because running was good and running was the proper thing to do this morning. It’s so refreshing! I feel like I have given the verb To Run its proper homage by running solely for the sake of running in that Moment.

When I finished I looked at my watch. 1:16. I looked at it waiting to feel something. Nothing. one hour, sixteen minutes, thirty eight seconds. seventy six minutes. It’s a unit of time and it had absolutely no impact on me. I looked at it out of pure reflex, it doesn’t have any meaning. For so long there was always a value attached to the time on the watch at the end of a workout. Good. Bad. Never indifferent. It was always accompanied by a judgment statement. “I did great!” “I should have gone 90 minutes.” Whatever it was I was always judging my workouts. (And, let’s be honest, I gave myself a LOT of positive feedback. Constructive criticism! Sandwich the critique between two compliments! Positive self-talk!)

No judgment, no value outside of the intrinsic value of running in that moment. That’s the difference. I’m redefining my concept of Running.

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Track

There’s a high school track 20 minutes from my house. Which is the perfect distance to be from a track. (And obviously when I say 20 minutes I mean 20 minutes of easy running not 20 minutes in a car or 20 minutes on a unicycle.) Now that I’m on the 1hr-workout-every-other-day plan the 20min warmup, 20min of ints, 20min back home is a fabulous way to start the day.

There is one weird feature of this track though… it’s entirely fenced with chain link. Which seems odd to me. As far as I’m aware it’s a public high school and I’ve never really noticed any other track being in perpetual lockdown.

Fences are only there to keep out the people who can’t climb them.

right?

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