Girls On The Run

I flew out west on Sunday so I had my last day of Girls on the Run on Thursday. I wanted to do a quick post with some of the pictures I took from last week and a little Girls on the Run recap. I started volunteering for Girls on the Run this spring after getting in touch with Sarah Perry, the woman who is in charge of the program at Flood Brook Union School. I enjoyed going back to the place where I spent kindergarden through 8th grade. Many of the same teachers still work there and it was fun to see some familiar faces among the mix of new faces. Girls on the Run is for 3rd-8th grade at Flood Brook and Sarah is doing an amazing job with a big group of girls consisting of a huge range of abilities. While we usually do a short pep talk at the beginning of practice, going over topics such as peer pressure, generosity, and health, our main focus is to get out the door and run. The girls participate in a 5k running race in mid June and the goal is to slowly build up their fitness throughout the spring so they're able to complete it when the time comes! We ran our first 5k the other day around the trails at Flood Brook and almost everyone made it! Some girls were probably able to run a 5k at the beginning of the spring, while others take turns walking a lap then running a lap, but they're all happy to be there and encourage each other along the way. On my last day, we made posters for a marathon feed station the girls were working at yesterday. Here are some photos from the day, and thank you to Sarah and all the girls for letting me be a part of it - I will miss you all!

The poster I made with Lilly

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Erika's piece of art

I'm currently in the Salt Lake airport because I missed my connection for Bend last night. Flights out of Boston were delayed so by the time I landed in SLC, my flight to Bend had already left. Luckily, one of my good friends, Parker Tyler, lives in SLC and was kind enough to let me stay at her house last night. Jessie also missed her connection so we had a slumber party. Thanks Parker and Hannah for letting us stay over! We're hoping to have a little more luck and arrive in Bend sometime today. Also, congrats to my cousin, Anya, for graduating from UNH this weekend!!!

Anya and Sver

Anya and some Caldwell cousins

Last Week in VT

It seems like yesterday when I was looking at the calendar and realizing I had three weeks to relax in VT before heading out west. I'm not sure where all the time went, but I suddenly have to be all packed up and ready to leave tomorrow! My first USST camp starts in Bend on Sunday, then I'll be going to Park City for the first three weeks of June for testing, an altitude block, and rookie camp. This weekend I'm going up to Hanover to visit my siblings and friends, going to UNH for my cousin Anya's graduation, then heading to Boston for a night before flying out on Sunday. That's why I need to be all packed up by tomorrow! I also need to pack just about everything because I will be skiing on snow for half the trip and dryland training for half the trip.

The past few weeks have been very relaxing and I've started to get back into the routine of training. The SMS T2 team is slowly trickling in and by the time I get back at the end of June, we will finally all be together! I've been doing a lot of road biking because I'm still trying to rest my foot and be smart about that. This was difficult at first because running is my favorite kind of exercise (well, 2nd to snow skiing) and road biking used to be one of my least favorite forms of exercise. In fact, road biking in the rain is my all-time least favorite form of exercise. I think of myself as a fair weather biker. Luckily, we had about 10 days of the most beautiful weather I've ever seen during a spring in VT. Each day was in the 70s and sunny and this made it easy for me to get my bike on! Unfortunately, that weather didn't last forever, but I think our cold rainy period is just about finished. I've also started my strength training for the year and as a result, I am constantly sore in one place or another, usually a little sore all over. It's fun to get back into the gym, but let's just say I have some work to do after taking an extended break from strength training. Here are some photos from my last few weeks at home!

The SMS crew heading out for a bike ride

biking isn't bad when you have a group of boys to break the wind for you

rollerskiing with the SMS girls 

Ana and Pip skiing through the Stratton village!

biking next to Iz

watching Dudley Rose get her head stuck in a glass

Erika and I made homemade bibimbap

 My dad and I were in charge of making the Mother's Day feast and it consisted of watermelon gazpacho, baguettes with steak, pesto, avocado, and cheddar cheese, a big salad, and mint chocolate chip meringues for dessert. We thought it was a success and the moms at least pretended they did!

Mother's Day lunch

Grandma and Dad

Mom and Austin

beautiful bike with Erika

a bike with Anya that started out nicely but ended in a torrential downpour

visiting my Hanover kiddies!

Anya and Reddington

The Dartmouth ladies doing some lovely karaoke 

That's all for now, the next update will be from Bend!

USST Nomination and Trip to Asheville

A couple weeks ago I found out I've been nominated to the US Ski Team! I'm really excited to be joining such a strong group and have been beginning to plan out my training year. I guess the training season officially started yesterday - time flies! I just returned from a trip to Asheville, North Carolina to visit my cousin Alexa. She works at Asheville School and it was fun to see her in her element and experience a bit of the South. Asheville is pretty unique in the sense that it doesn't really have the stereotypical southern feel. From what I experienced, it's a little liberal pocket that is a mix of Colorado and Vermont with a southern twist. I liked it! We went on some beautiful hikes and runs and had some tastes of what Asheville is known for - food and beer. It was a blast, but following my cousin Alexa around feels like a full time job so I was pretty tired when I got home. I also made the not-so-smart mistake of going for a long paved road run with my sister and Annie, who are training for a marathon, the other week when I hadn't run much so I've been nursing a little foot injury. I plan on avoiding running for the next week or so and hopping on my road bike instead. The T2 group is going to start coming back in the next couple weeks and we will gradually resume training.

hiking in Asheville

with cousin Alexa

we took a tour of the Biltmore on our rainy day

It was alumni weekend so we got all dressed up for a dinner and dance

I learned some Southern dances and decided swing dancing is much more fun than "grinding", or whatever they teach kids in New England

It was fun to meet Alexa's Asheville friends

I went to SMS practice yesterday where they were doing agility practice

We also did relay races that involved carrying huge logs and dragging tires. My team lost each time (sorry guys!) and I'm very sore today

The boys had to pull a very heavy tire

I've also been volunteering with Girls on the Run at my elementary school, Flood Brook Union School. Yesterday we had a bigger Girls on the Run practice with many of the surrounding towns. I got to meet a ton of girls and everyone completed a two mile run/walk at the end of practice. My little buddy wasn't quite ready to run two miles so we power walked most of it instead. I was okay with that because I'm not supposed to be running anyway and speed walking is kind of my specialty. One of the little girls, Laura, was so proud to tell me that last year she couldn't run a mile, but now she can run two without a problem! I give my neighbor, Mehanna, rides back from practice and yesterday she told me that at the Bill Koch festival this year, all the West River girls wore patterned knee socks like the USST girls and braided their hair just like Jessie Diggins. "Oh, for cute!!" as Jessie would say (click HERE for meaning).

Girls on the Run cheer!

Girls on the Run stretching circle

End of the Season

I'm currently back home after my final races in Truckee, California and a quick trip to Haiti to visit my boyfriend. It was an exciting week of racing and I think it's safe to say most people are ready for a break! By the end of the season, some people are still feeling great while others are totally burnt out so there can be some interesting results. It's really the only time of the year where the domestic field is able to race the US team people who spend the winter in Europe, so it's usually an eye-opening experience and exciting to be able to race against some of the best people in the world! Overall, my last week of races went well for me but there were definitely some highs and some slow lows. I didn't feel great about my prologue because I wanted to ski the whole thing smoothly but blew up on the big hill about halfway through the course, but my result wasn't bad. The 10k classic mass start wasn't bad but I skied a lot of it by myself so hopefully I can bridge the gap to the pack in front of me next year. I felt great in the sprint qualifier and had fast skis but the rest of the day was a bit of a struggle as I tired and we had trouble nailing the wax. The hill climb was pretty disastrous. This has always been my least favorite event and I don't understand why I'm so bad at it but I can't quite figure it out. Luckily, I only have to do one each year and most race courses start and finish in the same place meaning there is just as much downhill as uphill! The final race of the series was a 30k classic. 30 kilometers is the longest distance I've ever raced and I've only done a handful in my life so it was definitely an adventure. I finished 5th and was excited to end the season on a high note and have the best result of my week! A great video of the 30k, put together by Skyler Mullings, can be found HERE. Here are some photos from the week of racing at Spring Series.

Erika, Rosie, and I tried to make a "D" and "C" for Dartmouth College...

Mollie and Jessie before the men's 50k race

SMS Girls!

We were in charge of giving the boys feeds during the 50k

end of the season toast!

We made fun of our boys because they gave us such specific instructions for their feeds

made it!

Gus taking some golf swings on Lake Tahoe

Jessie

previewing the hill climb course on alpine skis! (Much more fun than the race itself)

the Utah girls had some great outfits

I took some beautiful walks by the lake with my mom

Sadie taking a nap under the prize table after the hill climb

After finishing up in Truckee, I flew back to Boston for one night before flying down to Haiti with Dan's parents to visit him for 4 days. He's been working for Partners in Health for the past 5 months in Haiti. I don't think we could have been doing more different things this winter so I'm really happy I got to go see what his life has been like while I've been in Europe skiing all winter. It was a huge culture shock and an eye-opening experience, but it was inspiring and impressive to see the work that's being done. Most of the people in Haiti haven't seen snow before and definitely haven't seen skis so when Dan explained to them what I do, they referred to me as the "girl who runs on snow" or "snow runner".  I like the name and think it's a pretty accurate depiction of what we do! We had a very busy schedule while we were there and I was able to see both the beauty and devastation in Haiti. There is still so much work to be done but people are genuinely hopeful.

Dan with St. Ker (2nd from right), one of the first patients in the developing world to receive AIDS treatment, and his family 

Wilkin (2nd from right) is Dan's good friend and one of the drivers for PIH. He invited us to his home for dinner one night with his family

at Club Indigo, the place where Bill and Hilary Clinton went for their honeymoon in 1975!

the beautiful new Mirebalais hospital that is in the process of opening

It was so hot I even went in the water!

our handsome tour guide and birthday boy

Zanmi Beni orphanage

Now I'm back home in VT and this is where I'll remain for the majority of my time until I head to Bend on May 19th. I'm going to visit my cousin, Alexa, who is working at The Asheville School in North Carolina next week and plan on making a few trips to visit my siblings and friends in Hanover, but otherwise I'll be enjoying some much needed time at home!

and that's a wrap!