Merino Muster week[end]

So much happened last week it's just a blur, but I do recall two lots of evening/night cross country skiing. One was very very cold - about minus 17 down in the gully I haunt, and with about a 10 knot wind.... but it was dry - so dry the hairs in my nostrils were getting stiff! And by this I mean in such conditions frost nip becomes a factor to guard against on the extremities such as the tip of the nose and ears - shades of Antarctica - so I wore my light hat, as one relies on buddies to spot the waxing colour of the skin as the minor frost bite sets in, and I do these night skiing trips solo. The rest of me was fine as I've acclimatised. I know this because I've had a thing about wanting fatty foods all week!

All this activity was an excuse for training for my 21 Km race on Sat. in the Snow Farm's legendary Merino Muster. This year 160 folk started - a record, bulked out by the arrival of 40 Finns in a bus. I slogged out my 21 Km with two of them and enjoyed the fun of their relentless technique born of having grown up with this sport that so lends itself to their tough mental discipline towards life. Thanks to this I set a new personal best of 2hrs 49 mins. despite 3 Km being really demanding sticky snow, that balled up under our skis. Meanwhile Dougal did the 7 Km with his mate Tom and they got around the 34 min mark. So we were all smiles as we rushed down the hill afterwards so he could attend a dress rehearsal for a school play tonight [which I'm really looking forward to attending].

Sunday... well the racing took it's toll - especially the sticky snow section: we chilled out around the house for the day eating and drinking.