Sunday, February 27, 2011

Cross Country Skiing

Last weekend for the Family Day holiday. Christina and I drove out East of Sherwood Park to go cross country skiing. We have been talking about going for some time but always found an excuse to not go - it was too cold, too warm, too lazy...

I'm not sure when the last time I went skiing was. I'm guessing it was back in grade 8 or 9 at Dixon. Meanwhile, Christina had never gone cross country skiing before so we weren't sure how much was fun we would actually have.

We arrived at the Strathcona Wilderness Centre around 10am figuring we would be able to beat the crowds. There were a few hardcores out there already but we had no problem getting equipment (first come first served).

The skis were waxless and really sharp looking. After a bit of wrangling we worked our way to the groomed trails and into the tracks. I slipped in first and took off right away. I wasn't very smooth and I ended up pushing with my shoulders more than my legs but I was pretty comfortable. Christina took a little bit more time to figure things out. She didn't seem to trust herself too much and was taking really small 'steps'. The first lap we took was quite slow.

Eventually we both got better and started to enjoy ourselves. I tried going free style and fell - Christina started taking larger 'steps'.

We ended up taking a few different routes and probably skied a total of 8kms. It was a great workout and in the -6 weather I built up quite a sweat.

Pics below.
Christina's model form.
          Our shoes were pretty sweet - they had an outside liner that kind of made them look like spats.
  Christina taking a well deserved break.

               Watch Christina gracefully get up from her bench break.

       I started to overheat and chowed down on some snow.
I am not really sure what I'm doing here.
This is my new favorite picture of Christina. Check out the hot ski bunny with the rosy cheeks.
I am already looking forward to our next trip skiing. Hopefully we can find the time in March.

1 comment:

Stephanie said...

Lucky you've had some decent weather. I love the video of Christine getting up from the bench and the look on her face.