Release!

We had two months of snow-cover deprivation, the lights were dimmed for a month, and the temperature bottomed out the other day but now we're being released!

The 6 inch base held out (barely) through the week before Christmas, and then it started snowing. It's been hard to actually enjoy the new snow since then (we have about 15-20 inches now) because it's been so cold and slow with a texture of fine sand. Now for the first time in weeks we're above zero. And the light, did I mention that since the solstice we've gained more than a full hour? We'll have 5 hours of daylight by the end of the weekend.

From this weekend through late March we'll have 8 or 10 races, with something almost every weekend. I'd like to keep the volume up for another 4-5 weeks before cutting back and doing the much anticpated long races. Meanwhile the upcoming month will feature several races ranging from 8k to 20k, but those are just tune-ups.

These are the ones I'm really looking forward to:
Feb 18 - 30 k pursuit
Feb 24 - 51 k Birkebeiner (very tenuously considering)
Mar 4 - 50k Tour of Anchorage
Mar 10 - 20k Skiathon
Mar 24 - 50k Sonot Kkazoot