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Ann Arbor Skyline Para Triathalon in 2013!!!!

3/14/14

Michigan SFLers!!!

Ski For Light International week was as fine as always this year! Although Mother Nature flexed her muscles during the arrival process and delayed many people, eventually we all made it to Anchorage.

Temperatures started at about 10 degrees and gradually rose through out the week to a high of 49 (and sunny). Unfortunately, this FINE final temperature melted the race course so NO races this year. But, also no injuries either and this is a good thing!

Since the first place prizes always have the date and location on them, each race division had a random drawing and Geri and Marie won! SO, Michigan is so good that we ended up with to first place prizes even though there was no race. How cool is that?

Other highlights from the week were that we attended the ceremonial start of the Iditarod, a horse drawn hey/slay ride, silent auction (got out bid AGAIN), and several dances.

All week was festive in Anchorage as it was something they called Furendezvous (pronounced fur Rendezvous) which hosted all types of fun events. Just a few were The Outhouse Race where teams of people race carrying an outhouse; a carnival (complete with rides); a Running-of-the-reindeer race (patterned after the Running-of-the-bulls in Spain (yes people were chased by reindeer)) and numerous dog sled races. A CRAZY week for sure!!!

As I usually do at such events, I managed to pack on a couple LBs even though I skied my heart out. O'well!! One of the nicest things I did was to ski from the resort area back to the hotel. The Tony Knowles Coastal Trail is one of the most beautiful coastal trails in the
nation (according to them). The trail gently winds along the coast eleven miles from downtown all the way to the area where we skied. Along with the peace and solitude we found on this trail, it's really cool for V.I. people (and others too). In downtown Anchorage they have a scale representation of the sun (about the size of a nice 4 person tent). About 2 blocks away is a representation of Mercury (the planet) and it's about the size of a small pea (in scale to the sun of course). Supposedly, the time it takes a person to walk from place to place is the same amount of time it takes light to travel between those two points in our solar system. A couple blocks further on is Venus and it's the size of an average pea. The planets continue along the coastal trail with Pluto being just outside the ski lodge. It took me about 2 hours to ski the 17K/11 mile trail and I was skiing faster than a person would walk. It was quite the eye-opener (pun intended). If you ever make it to Anchorage, check it out!!!

Did you know that Alaska is the size of California, Texas and Montana combined? I didn't!

Check out the following link for some real-time video.

http://www.ktuu.com/news/news/ski-for-light/24775018

Next year SFL International week starts on Sunday January 25th in Granby Colorado. Mark your calendars and start saving your pennies!!!

Hope to see you all there!

NP