Lately skiing has been a more enticing option for me, however, my body seems to "crave" the endorphin rush only produced via running if I miss too many days in a row. 

Skiing has the wonderful full body benefits and with the amazing snow cover mother nature has blessed us with this winter, the only choice I have to make is "how many k's"!  

But running gives me something different that absolutely no other activity can do.  Believe me, I've tried them all and nothing works!  It's the pounding that does it, the stepping that creates the stress relief in sometimes as little as two to three miles!

I can ski 30k in a day and feel absolutely nothing like I do after the short run.  After 30k I might have a sore muscle here or there, but still feel the same tension wise as I did when I began!  The long ski, the long bike, the long tennis game, the long canoe, none of those activities give me the same feeling which is a bummer because I could do any of those all day long!

Anyone else feel this way??     

After the tough footing of late on Park Point, I decided to give Hartley a try today.  I went out about 11:30, this time with the vaseline all over my eyelids and below in addition to the warm skin that was all over my face. The park was basically all mine to run in!  The trails were nicely packed, not a bit icy, pretty even, and the wind was blocked. 

Questions....does anyone have a solution to this problem...?  

When I run in the below zero temps, I only put one more layer on than  usual, but my core gets VERY hot.  I have the problem with my arms and legs being cold, but my core being super hot.  Any solutions or ideas?  

Thanks! 

While attempting to navigate the interesting winter created terrain on the nature trail then the beach at Park Point, I was able to see some of the most beautiful creations by the giant lake.  Less than a week ago, the water was open, and there was quite a bit of beach.  Now, there are hard snow mounds that resemble mountains with touches of sand on them.  Portions of the water is frozen solid, some is frozen like a giant slushy, and the sounds it makes when there is a slight breeze is unique and calming. 

If you get a chance to go down there, it's worth the trip...just try not to trip while you run! 

I'm not sure how many of the reader's of this are also nordic skiers, but I submitted the following to the paper and am encouraging those of you who avid silent lifetime sports advocates to possibly do the same  this is not the first time this has happened and those are the kids that work so dang hard...

HI,

I and many other nordic skiers were extremely disappointed that the only coverage the biggest high school nordic ski event received was a corner in the Sunday paper with partial results.  Our local teams and individuals were some of the most talented athletes in the field of over 1200 nordic skiers. 
Duluth East Varsity Boys placed 7th out of 38 teams for varsity.  Duluth East Girls were 4th out of 59 teams.  The girls and boys placed 3rd and 4in the Junior Varsity Races. 

Gus Downs of East placed 8th out of 193 boys in the freestyle race.  Raleigh Goessling of CEC was 4th in the same race. 

I could continue with all the local high placing athletes in this lifetime sport that requires endurance, dedication, and extremely hard work, but it would take too long to list all of the other spectacular performances by both the girls and boys of all the local schools. 

Hockey, Basektball, and other sports one can play successfully until sometimes after college are featured with large pictures and many stories. What a let down for all those kids who have worked so hard and done so incredibly well in this legendary event and were given no pictoral recognition by their own local paper. 

This is very sad!
Eve Stein
Ski Instructor
Snowflake Nordic