Summer re-cap

     When asked how my summer went, this year I've been saying that it was my best yet. It was one of those summers that just flew by with warm weather and good hard training. This re-cap will probably focus on the non-skiing aspects since I find the ski stuff to be pretty dull.

     I grew another sizable garden this year including, well, there wasn't much it didn't include. From sweet corn to broccoli to wheat to watermelons--I grew a little bit of everything 

 

     Taking an iced coffee break during the wheat harvest.

 

     Truck loads of squash!

 

     Cooked up a 4gal batch of ratatouille for the freezer. Quick healthy meal. 

     Another summer project amidst the training grind was to refinish Will & Sarah's floors. Here's a before and after shot. 

    We had a camp for Devo program kids in June where we covered some of the basics of training. Between obstacle courses, practicing ski motions, and a little long bow practice, I think it got the kids pretty stoked on life. 

Photo: Will Sweetser

     After that we rolled down to Carrabassett Valley for our annual Sugarloaf camp at CVA. As always, it was a great camp, my favorite part being a six hour run/hike traverse of the Bigelow range. 

     Waylon Wolfe got some great shots of the team while we were there. Check out the entire album here: https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=730499877014797&id=144023368995787

Photo: Waylon Wolfe Photography

     July took me to Canmore, AB where I skied on the Haig glacier for ten days.

     Hand plant city. Too bad I didn't land it. 

Photo: Matthew McKeever

     At the end of August, Hil's cousin got married over in Fort and Hil was in charge of growing the flowers.

     And in classic Hilary form, she didn't let them go to waste after the wedding. Here's a picture of her free-flower stand the day after (donations encouraged):

     In early September I made the ten-hour trek over to Lake Placid to hop in on the last few days of the USST's training camp. 

Photo: Colin Rodgers

     It was great to join in some workouts with such an awesome crew and to test my fitness in the Climb to the Castle, a race up the Whiteface Mtn Rd. I took a lead early in the race and almost instantaneously paid for it, but was able to hold on and push for a third place finish. 

Photo: NNF/USSA

     At the tail end of camp, I met up with teammate, Kelsey Dickinson, who was doing the biathalon at the OTC, for a hike up Mt Marcy. I was pretty beat from camp, but I couldn't pass up the opportunity to get up in the Adirondacks-- or take a jumping selfie.

     Oh yeah, here's a picture of my watch after the forty-minute race up Whiteface. Yep, it's correct.

     After that I headed out to Wyoming with our Junior team for a little altitude training. 

Photo: Will Sweetser

     It was great to get back to Maine afterwards and enjoy fall. 

     Bacon wrapped red hoddogs? Yep. Its okay though because its on salad... right?

     A few weeks ago, I took care of Wayne & Pam's farm in Presque Isle while they were gone. First hard frost of the year. 

     Playing mommy to number six. 

 

     I'll work for beef any day.

     Last weekend we went on an awesome hike/run in Deboullie, a tract of public land in the North a Maine Woods near Portage. 

     I capped the day off with a rollerski to fill my hours. 

Aftermath of 4hr run + 2hr ski:

Now I'm in the throes of an intensity block trying to make sure to keep fresh and sharp as much as I can--and dodging showers and enjoying the crisp days of October. 

     My current project is a little remodel of Will's porch. Moving the door to the end wall and putting a bank of windows in this wall. Should keep me out of trouble until I head back to Canmore in a few weeks to start the season!

I'll leave you with this fortune I got recently: