When making plans for the summer, I hadn’t exactly planned on taking any online classes. I mean, I took a General Psychology class last summer and liked it, except for the stress of trying to take exams while traveling to Sweden, Alaskan Glaciers (not great internet up there), and across the country. I thought I’d go for the less-stressed approach this summer since lately my days have been pretty packed with skiing and life in general! I’m also the type where if I start something, I’m pretty invested in it, and I want to give it 100%. That’s why I didn’t go to college in the first place – because I didn’t want to take classes if I wasn’t going to be able to really apply myself and fully be there.
But when I got to Park City I found out that since the US Ski Team’s free college deal with Westminster University in Utah was changing, I needed to take a class this summer to preserve my eligibility. I figured the Developmental Psychology class was the one online class I was really interested in, and then realized the class was starting the next day. Whew! Don’t worry, I was able to appreciate the irony of me not thinking through my decision to sign up for a class focusing on cognitive development through life. 🙂
However, I’m now pretty psyched about it (yeah, pun totally intended). I think it’s going to be really good for me to have something important going on besides training…and not at all related to the ski world. So after some scrambling to order a textbook and get registered hours before the first class started, I’m in!
I wish this was the turning part of the blog post where I offered some insightful comments about the life of the Nordic skier, training, or other sweet stuff. But lets get real. I’m afraid I’m about to tell another one of my dumb stories. And it starts with me not remembering something important (as usual)!
Earlier today I’d been sitting at the counter trying to sort through classwork and get organized, when Simi gave me a good scare by climbing over the deck railing. He’d been out rock climbing and finished the day off by scaling 3 stories up the side of our condo building. I couldn’t believe he’d actually just climbed the rock wall, but he just wiped the chalk off his hands and got on with his day, no big deal.
View from the deck down. Awesome rock wall!
I decided to get outside and enjoy the sunset with a nice hike, and waltzed out the door without a second thought. The second thought should have been the numbers of the entry code for the locked building. But hey, it was a beautiful sunset! I came back and could not for the life of me remember the code for the door. I circled the condo, trying different combinations at every door, finally standing under our balcony and shouting “Sophie…Simi…Andy…Anybody….????” Needless to say, I felt really, really stupid.
The wall Simi had climbed earlier was starting to look like a better and better option. So I took it. I could see the marks where the chalk came off his hands, so I kept rubbing my fingers on the rocks, picking up chalk and dust as I went. Me and my pink running shoes. Yep…pretty dumb looking, all right. When I finally hauled myself over the railing, I could barely stop laughing long enough to tell Andy and Sophie why I was so late!
Matt’s birthday cupcakes (no, he didn’t really turn 53)
Besides that, life has been pretty good…after we finished up our testing at the Center of Excellence, we’ve settled back into a usual training routine. Matt had his Birthday the other day, and Sophie and I had fun making him crazy chocolate frosted chocolate cake inside a cookie-dough-crust. We had some great intervals up the back of East Canyon, where you can ski up for an hour without stopping and just get picked up at the top by the coaches. There are fantastic single track running trails all over the place where we live up by Guardsman Pass, so the running has been great. Strength training has been really fun, although everyone’s pretty sore right now! Tomorrow we’re headed out to rally some speeds and then hit the weights again. And in between, I’ll be studying. 🙂
Soph making sure the cookie cups don’t burn
