Home Sweet Home

Well, the day has finally arrived… my one day of relaxation that is! I am in Anchorage, and I don’t go up to the Eagle Glacier until tomorrow. The last week has been one of the craziest of my life, trying to train twice most days, study for finals, take finals, write a paper, and pack up. The packing definitely took longer than expected, I worked in my room to get it everything boxed up from about 7:30am to 1:30pm. I don’t know if this is caused by a debilitating inefficiency, my huge amount of crap, or some combination therein. What I do know is that it was insanely stressful, I don’t know where any of my things are, and its finally over!

Now that I am in Alaska, it’s time to get ready to head up to Eagle tomorrow for some excellent training. I am really excited for that; I have at times felt homesickness for the Glacier during the 49 weeks of the year that I am away from it. However, what I am really excited for is the final unveiling of my training for the last couple of months. Having been away from my team, I don’t know whether I have held my own or totally fallen off the fitness map. I managed a 56 hour month last month, so I don’t think I will be too terribly behind, but I have no way of knowing. So, I am nervous, excited, and a tiny bit worried to see where I am at! Most of all, I am happy that I was able to spend some time at school, but am now really ready to buckle down and get some good training done.

As a side note:
I am also really excited to get to try these awesome rollerski boots out –

I haven’t used them yet, but I can’t wait! I love the idea of the reflective stripes on the heel and sides because I am a procrastinator and sometimes end up rollerskiing just a little too late. Another great detail is the strip of hard plastic just visible on the inside of the forefoot: it’s that little red stripe in the gold section. It’s on the part of your boot that can get totally trashed if you fall, or if you drag your rollerski for some reason or another. Now, it’s not going to get torn up!

Alpina, though they don’t do a lot of flashy promotion or advertising, really have their heads on straight. I visited them in Lebanon before I left New Hampshire, and I was really impressed with their attention to quality and focus on just making a good, solid, simple boot. They are a shoe company, so they really know how to make a person’s feet happy and you can feel it in their ski boots. They don’t focus on marketing, they let their boots talk for themselves! After using Alpina for over three years, I can tell you that I have never ever had a problem. No blisters, no sore arches, nothing. That’s pretty impressive if you ask me!

I will let you all know how the boots ski once I get down from the glacier and try them out.
Thanks for reading!