100km Skiathon!

Yesterday the SMS-T2 team successfully completed our 100km skiathon fundraiser! Our goal was to gain support from friends and family to help fund our travel expenses this winter by asking people to donate to our team/individuals if we completed our 100km ski. Thank you to everyone who contributed and to my awesome teammates for making the 6 hours of rollerskiing not only bearable, but actually quite pleasant!

Erika leading us up a hill

We did our ski over in NY state because there are beautiful paved roads and there is very little traffic. We did the first 3 hours of our ski on classic skis and then switched over to skate skis for the remaining 3 hours. The first part of our ski was flatter so classic skiing was just as fast and the second half went through winding green hills and farmland.

Classic

Skate

Still smiling after 2 hours

 We did a ski in NY earlier this summer and I think by the end of that ski, Erika and I had both decided that it was the nicest rollerskiing we had ever done so we were excited to show Jessie and Annie what we had been talking about.

Tons of cornfields

The girls skating up some hills

While there wasn't much car traffic, we did encounter a lot of roadkill and although my brother took plenty of pictures of the dead animals, I'm going to happily refrain from sharing them. He did think it was hilarious that the roadkill was found on the following road:

Survival of the fittest

We spent a lot of time brainstorming what we were going to do and talk about in order to pass the 6 hours of time spent skiing and some of the girls came up with the brilliant idea of doing a Secret Santa during the ski. So each athlete was paired with another athlete and at some point throughout the ski, they had to reveal a gift. Paddy gave me some awesome energy boosters and candy and here is a picture of Gus sporting the hair band I gave him about halfway through the ski while performing a rap for Jessie with his brother, Sten.

 

Paddy catching a ride with Andy

Annie kept us entertained with her impressive rhyming skills so there was a constant stream of lyrics flowing from her mouth updating us on our progress throughout the ski! At one point we decided to calculate the number of pole plants we were going to have done by the end of the ski and came up with 15,000 - 16,000. I'd post the exact math we used but we were content with our solution and I don't want Eric pointing out any errors. 

Jessie

We wouldn't have been able to make it without the constant support from Gus. He was always refueling us with water, Gatorade, and eventually Gatorade with added salt (gross). Some of us are directionally challenged so we were also very grateful that he marked every intersection with chalk arrows and words of encouragement. 

Gus

 The girls decided to finish the ski holding hands and there is video evidence HERE - cute, right?! The boys finished before we did but I'd be willing to bet they didn't have the same brilliant idea.

Skyler, Eric, and Sver

After our ski, we were all exhausted but knew it was important to eat and drink a lot in order to recover as quickly as possible. Luckily, I went to my house for a going away dinner for my little sister so I had no problem eating as much delicious food as possible. She will be spending the fall traveling the Western United States for an Earth Science program with Dartmouth and everyone should follow her awesome travels here www.daveandiztakeonthewest.blogspot.com

She will be missed!

Thanks to everyone who supported us in the Skiathon! At one point Jessie said, "Guys, this is probably the longest distance we will every rollerski!" I responded by saying, "If I ever ski any longer, please come find me and tell me there is something wrong with me." That said, it was a beautiful day spent with an awesome team.