I was feeling a little chilly on Monday afternoon, just a draft coming up my shawl I thought. Tuesday dawned with my annual sinus infection and despite feeling like do-do I came in and persevered, albeit at a slower than normal pace. Wednesday morn the doctor informed me that my sinus infection was really strep throat but not to worry, everyone has it already. Great! So after strong antibiotics, lots of fluids and no solid food since Monday I feel much perkier.. if not lighter.

Our 1st class session went well with only nominal comments about soreness. It was pretty easy as far as that goes but the workouts will get harder but so will our conditioning. Everyone needs to be more aware of his or her "positional awareness" or in other words how your body parts are lined up to achieve a certain technical goal. One needs to see themselves from the "third person". How would someone else see you (or me in this case). Too often we saw drifting hands or poor hand control or a lack of shin angle. These are all very correctable but not without a concerted effort. Muscle memory is a funny thing, if practiced enough it does become permanent. I can still play a chromatic scale on a Base Clarinet even though I have not played one for 30 years, nor could even read the notes but my fingers still remember, skiing is the same way. The reason those old guys ski so well is not their superior conditioning but rather their efficient technique. So in the technical sense we have a lot to do, you may never ski on the world cup but it would be nice to look like you could.

Snow Reports: You can always see up to the minute SKIER generated trail reviews by going to www.skinnyski.com but some of the best reviews are coming from (go figure) the UP. ABR, Tech Trails, MQT are all in good shape. Closer to home golf courses, Brown County and Shorewood (no greens or tees please) are best bets. Lilly Lake is skiable but could use an inch or two more.

Things looked pretty good this week. Due to the snow hillbounding is (weep) over. We will see you next week at 7:15 pm. Im still working on advancing the time.

STC: How did the two original Birkebeiners supply water to the infant prince?

Slide and Glide / SAG