We went up to Highlands Nordic today for the Haywood Nor Am races. Very cool to see many of the top skiers from across Canada on our trails!
I gave 'Bent my lucky cowbells after awhile so I could take photos of our Caledon skiers.
Goose was cheering along the course after getting up early to wax skis.
It was great to see our good friend and Tree Hugger teammate VO2Max racing for the first time in two years. (He's been doing lots of racing - we just haven't seen him do it!) The men's event was 15K of skate skiing.
Later in the women's 10K skate race, former Tree Hugger teammate Brittany Webster tore up the course and won 1st overall!
'Bent and I ran into her just as the trails were opening to the public and she suggested that we join her for her cooldown. Um, sure, why not? She's one of the top skiers in Canada and she was on skate skis waxed by a professional, and I was on waxless classics because I was feeling sick with my cold and hadn't planned to ski very long. It was actually great - we had a wonderful chat and caught up on her news.
'Bent and I continued on when she turned back, then Goose joined us for awhile, then I sent the two of them ahead so I could feel sorry for myself on my own. Conditions were stellar even though most trails weren't trackset or recently groomed, and the trees were puffy with snow. It was beautiful and I had a great time in spite of my trouble breathing. I ran into Brian Culbert, who will be doing UTMB for the 2nd time, so we had a nice chat.
(Time deducted for all the chatting!)