Dinner parties full of Fall's best flavors!

My good friends, Evelyn, Sarah and Tyler and Tyler's Mom and Step Father.  We cooked up a really good meal hosted in their new kitchen! They also put me up for the night last minute, and I slept like a champ.  In the morning after a great breakfast at Einstein's of a PUMPKIN bagel (a favorite fall flavor of mine) and cream cheese I did one of my favorite workouts in the area.  

I skied up Millcreek Canyon and ran up to the Crest Trail, (one of my favorite trails in Park City that runs along the top of the mountains separating Park City from Salt Lake) along the ridge and back down the other side straight through the door of my condo.  Pretty sweet point to point.

On the Crest!

The trails are perfect right now, the leaves are beginning to change and there is still a bit of leftover snow around from last week's storms.  FALL!!  SMELLS LIKE HEAVEN!

Fall colors in Park City.

Barb Vordenberg Jones and her daughter Josie.  Pete was one of the Ski Team coaches for many many years after being an athlete for many years as well.  I don't get to see these guys enough, but when I do, it is always a great day!  Barb is a little under 3 months away from having another baby too!!

Dinner tonight with more good friends and teammates.  Me, Alex, Cory, Holly, Jessie and Kikkan all feasting on Turkey Burgers, salad, cornbread, and homemade butternut squash soup!  

Favorite Fall Flavors: Pumpkin, Squash, Apples, cinnamon, curry

Least Favorite Fall Food: Poached Fruit

Share your favorite recipes for the season!!!

Xterra Trail Nationals

Again, I waited until the last minute to do this blog and do not have enough time to really get into a writing zone tonight, but a bit of an recap of my week....

I flew back to Park City on Tuesday night after spending 2 days at home with my parents after our Lake Placid camp.  So nice to be home, always, and to see my family seems to be becoming more and more special as I get older and more mature:)  Jessie Diggins greeted me home, as she has moved in for the remainder of the fall and it is really nice to have the house not feel so empty and have a buddy to train with!  Yesterday I raced in the Xterra Trail Running National Championship which takes place in Ogden, Utah each year.  I have competed in this race 3 years now, though not consecutively, and each year has been different and fun.  Its a great course, climbing over 2200 feet in 21K, but is a loop, so there is quite a bit of downhill as well.  This year I had the opportunity to run with Lindsey Anderson, who I learned after the race competed in her first Olympics in Beijing in 2008 in the Steeplechase!  She and I ran the whole race together until the last mile or so when she opened up a gap that I couldn't close.  To have such a competitive race between the two of us the whole time made for a very exciting 21K for me, as well as a super hard fight, which made it mentally a great preparation race for the season.  Thanks to Xterra for hosting such a well run event again this year.

Yesterday's Xterra 21K Trail National Championship podium. 

It's fall here in Utah! Leaves are beginning to change, shadows are getting long, and the air has a bit of a briskness to it!

Many fall dinner parties! This one was with my good friends Cory, Jessie and Alex and we had some delicious fall flavors!

Along with some Wild Alaskan Salmon that Holly and Kikkan caught on our fishing trip in Alaska a month ago!  Still so delicious!!

My parent's new dog, Maisie, who is 4 months old, trying on her new tutu!

FAST AND FEMALE CHAMP CAMP

SIGN UP IF YOU ARE GOING TO BE IN THE UTAH AREA ON OCTOBER 6TH AND SPREAD THE WORD!!!

Too exciting to wait until Monday...

So my friend, Phoebe Stone is starting her new business of custom seamstress work as well as handmade clothing.  I just received my first dress made by her while I was home and it turned out beautifully.  I have never had a custom made article of clothing and I have to say, it fits like a charm.  It was so fun to watch Phoebe work, measuring here, pinning there and then creating this unique, functional and beautiful dress for me.  She hand dyed the fabric and created a subtle patterned look, that adds to the incredible color of the dress, I think.  It is so cool to be helping a friend get a start on her business and I can't wait to wear this dress!  In fact, it was so comfortable and fun I almost wore it on the plane, but then decided against it, as I usually spill things on myself and I freeze when I fly, so it would have been a bad combination.  

Anyway, please check out Phoebe's website and blog here:

http://phoebekelloggstone.blogspot.com/

https://www.etsy.com/listing/163090075/blue-dress-fully-lined-with-fitted

She only has one product for sale at the moment, but if you are intrigued by her work get in touch, as her creative eye and hand may be able to help you create your dream attire.

THANKS PHOEBE!!!!

Smells like heaven

I love the smell of Vermont in the fall.  The crisp air, the leaves beginning to change color, apple season in full swing.  Yum.  I can't get enough of this fresh, clean, happy smell of my Vermont home.  I am heading back to Utah tomorrow, but it sure was nice to get a bit of Vermont's fall feeling and snag some fall produce.

We just finished up our camp in Lake Placid yesterday, capping it all off with Climb to the Castle, the 5 mile rollerski race that ends at the top of Whiteface Mountain.  It is a really tough race, always windy, generally pretty cold, but this year, the sun was shining so all the other elements took a backseat.  (Or at least until the final 1/2 mile stretch which is right into the wind's strongest gusts!)

On my way home I stopped to visit my Cousin, Josh and his wife Kate who just had their second kid, Liza, 3 weeks ago!

This is their first child, Pete, who just turned 2 and his new bike!

The training crew from Lake Placid.  We had an awesome group of athletes this year, with each person adding something to the session.  Made for a really kick-ass

Peru Nordic Masters and me.  I think these guys are the only ski club that calls themselves the "Death Metal Ski Club!"

Apparently my dog, Maisie would like to join me to Utah tomorrow.  Wish I could take her!

Lake Placid Camp

We have just completed our first week of camp at the OTC here in Lake Placid.  This camp is always one of my favorites of the training season because of it’s proximity to Vermont and the amazing training that can be found around this area of New York.  We have been really making use of all of the incredible training venues, with some speed and agility work on the new rollerski track around the ski jumps the first day, some long skis on the quiet, but paved roads around and some epic bounding intervals on Whiteface Mountain.  This is our first real intensity block of the training year, and we have done similar workouts here each year, so us athletes have come to know which ones are the really taxing sessions and mentally and physically prepare for them as best we can so as to get the most out of these important sessions.  The bounding has been known as one of the hardest sessions of the camp, along with the team sprint workout that will take place tomorrow and the well known (and sometimes dreaded) Climb to the Castle next Sunday.  

Yesterday we participated in a Fast and Female power hour here at the OTC.  The idea of the “power hour” is to introduce the girls and the local community to Fast and Female and try to get local kids together so that they get to know one another.  We are hoping that local parents and coaches in the area will then continue to host these events a couple times a month in order to keep these relationships strong as well as create a fun atmosphere for the girls to be active in.  If you would like to host a power hour in your area, check out www.fastandfemale.com and get started!  It does not take much planning or effort at all to get one going and they are a lot of fun.

A highlight of the week for me was getting to see my good friend Bernie Gardner, who is a high school running and nordic coach from Honeoye Falls, NY.  The last time I saw Bernie was at this camp last year, but we keep in touch throughout the year, sharing stories of our travels and of his team’s endeavors, which are a blast to read about.  I feel as though I know the members of his team, so it was really fun to actually meet one of his girls yesterday at Fast and Female!

The other highlight of the week has been today, as I took advantage of our off day and made the trek to Burlington on the ferry to meet up with a good friend and sponsor, Corinne Prevot.  Corinne started the company Skida (www.skidasport.com) , which became my headgear sponsor last season, but Skida is also the company that makes my Friends of Liz hat each year.  So today, we walked around Burlington for a bit, taking pictures of patterns, shapes, and colors that we liked and then headed back to her brand new office on Pine Street.  (You should go check it out if you have time, as she has made such a great studio for her collection.)  We then took colors we liked, shapes we found eye catching and Corinne’s incredible creative sense and began playing around with designing this year’s Friends of Liz unique print.  I am so excited for the design that has been created and can’t wait until I see you all in it!

Until next Monday, keep smiling, loving, living and dreaming.

Double Pole Session

Agility

Top of Big Slide Mountain yesterday on our over-distance run.

Ida

Bernie and Me!

Corinne and Me putting our creative brains together and me in my newest Skida hat!!

The Beautiful Maine Coast

I spent most of this week in Owls Head, Maine at my Uncle's house on the coast.  I haven't been there in many years, but my memories are very vivid and special from the times when I was a kid.  Sleeping in the upstairs bedroom with the door open and the wind carrying the ocean sounds to my ears and putting me gently to sleep.  Ah, is there anything better than those sounds and smells that you find on the coast?  I don't think so.  It's been really fun getting to know my parent's new puppy, Maisie.  She can be a bit bitey with her puppy teeth, but overall she is well behaved and cute as a button.  Now I am home in East Montpelier today after a run with Ida and Matt in Burke yesterday morning, a swim in Matt's pond afterwards (Ida and Matt pulled out about 45 cattails that had been growing in the pond.  We also found a leech, spiders the size of my thumbnail, which is WAY too big for me to be comfortable with and many other creepy crawlies.) and a wonderful lunch from the Craftsbury gardens that Ida brought with her.  This is the best time of year to be here in Vermont, eating fresh produce, apples galore, just harvesting anything and everything.  So delicious and fun.  Off to Placid tomorrow for the next 2 weeks.

My Mom and enjoying one of the nicest days of the year on the ocean!  How did we get to be so lucky?

The coast where my Uncle lives.

Fun rocks to climb around on and go searching for sea life.

The Maisie Dog.

Being a bit crazy

and bad.  But she is so damn cute!