I'm fine, thanks. How have you been?

I have decided that this blog (and, by extension, those of you who read it) is like an old college buddy. The kind of friend with whom you can lose touch for months, even years at a time, meet up for a beer in an airport lounge when one of you is passing through the other’s town, and resume chatting as though not a day has passed since last you met. So, yeah, I’ve been busy. With work, and houseguests, and work, and skate-skiing, and work, and climbing, and work, and taxes, and, well, work.

Steve and I are spending a lot of time these days fantasizing about knocking down walls and remodeling our tiny, boring kitchen into something less tiny and more fabulous. For financial and other reasons, I expect we are a year or so away from taking a sledgehammer to the drywall, but we have come up with a pretty snazzy design concept and have priced out some materials and appliances. At least in theory, we’d like to do as much of the work as possibly ourselves (realistically, mostly Steve’s-self, since I’m rather lacking in the construction- and design-skills department. But I can paint!). This should be a challenging and possibly even fun endeavor, although I’m a wee bit terrified about how long it might take, and how we might survive being kitchenless for many months.

Other than work and kitchen-dreaming, we have been skate-skiing as much as possible. We leave Thursday for the Birkebeiner, and hopefully will reap the benefits of all this training. If you’ve been following along at home, you may remember that my plan was to ski the entire 51K Birkie race this year, on classic skis. For reasons of weather, wax, and gear, too mundane to explain, I have skied classic-style only twice this season, while I’ve been skating almost every weekend since November. A few months ago, I could barely go for 10 minutes without gasping and dry-heaving, but I’ve now skated 20K or so twice in the past few weeks, once in bitterly cold conditions for which I had the entirely wrong wax. And so, come Saturday, I will be attempting to skate the 23K Kortelopet race, the same one I classic-skied last year. This feels like the right challenge for me, for this year, and I’m very excited about it. It also means that the Freiburger clan will not have to sit around waiting for me to finish the full Birkie, since they are all skiing the Korte and I would almost surely be finishing at least 4 hours behind Steve’s Birkie time.

Speaking of cross-country skiing, did any of you see the men's 4x10K relay last weekend? Where the Italian skaters crushed the field and snagged the gold on their home turf? Just, wow! Very inspiring and intimidating, and extra fun to watch now that I understand the sport a little bit. On the other hand, curling? I watched for a good 15 minutes the other day, and I still have no idea what's going on. It seemed to have some resemblance to a retirement-home shuffleboard game, only slower-paced.

In addition to the exciting physical challenge ahead of me, this weekend’s Wisconsin trip offers a special post-race treat: fried cheese curds. Perhaps not the most cardio-conscious foodstuff, but well worth skiing 23 kilometers for!

Comments

[jdz]

Good luck at the Birkie! I can't wait to hear how it goes!

And yeah, the Itlian XC skiiers were amazing!!!

[michelle]

I'll be so excited to see your eventual kitchen remodel. There is a lot of potential. You guys are in a fab location (perfectly situated between the Sun & Eldo). IMO, the kitchen is the most important place in the house and it's sooooooo nice having one you LOVE.

Way to go on your skating! Spring is almost here so better enjoy it before we turn into mega climbing and tri training!