Back from Whistler- what a trip! We had a GREAT time. Alex and I arrived around 10pm Friday night. Andrew and Kathy were already there, they had checked us into our "slope side" room, and poured us a glass of wine as we walked through the door.
The next morning Alex and Andrew did "fresh tracks" while Kathy and I sipped our coffee and watched skiers go up and down the lift from our
living room window. Our hotel was literally on the side of
Blackcomb mountain. We joined up with the boys around 10am, and started skiing straight out of our hotel. Ski-in ski-out is AWESOME! No walking in ski boots!!!
We took the peak-2-peak across from
Blackcomb to Whistler. Even though you know you're safe, it is pretty freaky! It is the worlds longest and highest gondola, 1500 feet up in the air, and you travel for 11 long min.
From there we chaired up to the tip top of
Whistler Mountain, where the wind nearly blew us off the mountain! It was by far my most extreme skiing
to date.
After we put in a full day on the slopes, we warmed up in the hot tub and then headed down to Whistler Village for dinner. We ate a cute Italian restaurant with live music. Yum!
Day two we woke up and skied
Blackcomb Mountain. Alex, Andrew and Kathy took me through a motocross, or
skiercross, track where I nearly died speeding around corners and flying over hills! I can't wait to watch the 2010 Olympics and see if they race on the same track.
What a great weekend, wish I was back there right now!!
I really like the judges on this show too. They are not afraid to disagree with each other, and it's nice to watch a reality show without the obvious "Simon" judge.
Monday they will meet up with their guides and depart on the Haute Loop. On the Haute loop they will ski tour through 3 countries in 6 days! France, Switzerland, and Italy.
Last Sunday Alex and I ran the Mercer Island half marathon. This the second 1/2 we've run together. Last time, we trained by running 5 days a week, but only for about 3-4 miles. This time, we ran 3-4 times a week, but usually at least two of those runs were 6+ miles. It was our little experiment, comparing distance vs frequency. Lucky for us, our long runs paid off because we both had much better runs this time around!
Alex ran it in 1:40, and I ran it in 1:54. I beat my time by about 8-9 min, so it was a VERY good run for me. I do have to give a little shout out to cliff shots. I ate (drank) one of these around mile 7, and I just FLEW for the next 3-4 miles. I took another at mile 11 to help me with the final push. It REALLY made a difference. Alex and I both played it safe early on, and then stepped our pace up significantly around mile 6-7. Even though we didn't run together (hence the time difference), we applied the same strategy to our run- must have been all the training we did together! Or great minds thinking alike.
After we put in a full day on the slopes, we warmed up in the hot tub and then headed down to Whistler Village for dinner. We ate a cute Italian restaurant with live music. Yum!
Today was super sunny. I couldn't bring myself to workout indoors at the gym, so I decided to WALK home from work. I work in Seattle, I live in Greenwood. I am not sure how many miles it ended up being, but it took about 1 hour and 50 min. Pretty long . . . but nice. Totally doable. I think in the summer, when it's not too windy and cold, it will be a really great alternative work out.