This is Going to be Expensive

Skating day one.

I’m enjoying a completely quiet condo. No music, no dogs, no husband. It’s weird. They’ll all be back soon from a walk. But sitting on the sofa in an oversized Purdue hoodie in my quiet condo with my faux fur blanket is so pleasant. Why, you ask, am I sitting on my butt while Jon walks all the dogs? Because he’s letting me. And I love him for it.

Last weekend we scored him some sweet skate skis that I found on an Facebook group. They’re the Fischer RCS Skate Plus. Which seemed like decent skis to me for $150. They were immaculately cared for and included the bindings and carbon fiber poles. Clutch. So naturally, this weekend, following some much needed snow, we had to go try them out. Jon’s never been on skate skis, so a lesson was in order. Apparently it went well. I didn’t join them. This was something that made me a little jealous. I’ve wanted to learn to skate ski for a while, but finding good, affordable gear for someone my size is like trying to find good, affordable used bikes for short people. I’ve only successfully done that once. But honestly, taking up a sport that involves a ton of balance and a bucketload of physical stamina when 37 weeks pregnant is just a horrible idea. So I’m letting that make me feel less jealous and am just going to be psyched for Jon.

I put on my classic skis and headed up into the lakes basin. Man, did I feel really pregnant today. Geez. I mean, I know I am really pregnant, but I seriously felt it. I didn’t sleep very well last night due to excessive pee breaks, so that didn’t help, but I just felt slow. I know I wasn’t going that slow, since I passed a bunch of people, but it was the Saturday afternoon club, so it wasn’t that hard to pass them. Saturday afternoons are when people that usually have no idea how to ski, how to dress for skiing, or know anything about trail etiquette ski. This is why I don’t ski on Saturday afternoons, even while really pregnant and slow. But Jon’s lesson was at noon, so I didn’t have much of a choice. It was funny, though, and I commend all of those folks for getting off their couches and moving their butts. Fortunately, we got enough snow that they were able to put in a couple more classic lanes, so that made passing a little easier.

But back to the very slow, very pregnant ski. First, getting dressed is getting tricky at this stage. I’m running out of appropriate layers. Down jackets are much too warm for Nordic skiing in California and right now, I don’t have a shell that fits. I refuse to buy anything for the last three weeks. That’s dumb. So I just squeezed into my 12 year old Marmot Windshirt, which is such a great x-c ski layer. I can’t believe Marmot isn’t making the women’s version anymore. Ah well. Mine is still going strong. And I maxed it out today for sure! The bottoms are much easier. My Old Navy compression maternity pants are still killing it, and I’m still able to wear my Athleta wind warrior skirt with them, which I love. It’s a size L from last winter, but fortunately, thanks to a little weight loss this year, it works great as a preggo skirt. Just the top layers are giving me trouble as of late. But I got it figured out. Second, I’m fairly sure I looked like a whale. I did notice quite a few people giving me weird looks, though. I just try to ignore it. Yes, I’m giant and breathing heavy and am stuffed into this jacket. But I’m still moving at 37 weeks, so we’re going to call it a win. But still. Look and feel like a whale. Probably normal at the is stage, huh?

I made it up to Lake Mary. I had high hopes of getting around the lake, but the hips and lower abdominal area were having none of it. And I still had to get back down. But conditions were great and the down was fast without being scary or icy. Having had no snow for the better part of six weeks, previous conditions were, well, treacherous.

So, safe and sound and back at the yurt, Jon had finished his first skate ski lesson. Comments? “That was hard.” Yep. But I think he’s on board! Which is sweet because unlike alpine skiing, Nordic skiing is something we can do with the niño in pretty short order. Big win. I saw a few kiddos out and about today. One was super little. Like 2.5. Cutest damn skis. They were mostly bindings with a little bit of ski on either side. But he was crushing it (he’s in the background of the photo of Jon. See? Awesome!).

But, as usual, this athletic endeavor is going to cost us some money. When I started running, seriously, the only thing we bought was a pair of shoes. Shoes! And I needed those anyway! Bindings on those super cheap skis were SNS bindings, which are not the most common type, so we’ve got to now find Jon some boots that work with those bindings. It’s never as straight forward as it seems. And never as cheap! And we just need find a set up for yours truly. Because eventually, I won’t have a kiddo in my belly and god willing, my sense of balance will return. And I’ll probably need some new skis with which to tow the kiddo in the Chariot. Oh, and the ski kit for the Chariot. Yikes!

And where do you store all this awesome gear in a 1300 square foot condo? No earthly idea. Right now the Chariot and the Britax strollers are “parked” in the kiddo’s room. Our skis live on a ski rack in our bedroom, and our bikes live in storage for the winter. They used to live in the kiddo’s room. No idea where they’re going to live this summer! This gear storm will inevitably get worse as the little guy gets older and we encourage him take on downhill skiing, maybe mountain biking, road biking, backpacking… We’re going to need a bigger place. Or less athletic ambition. But what fun is that?

Squeezing into the windshirt at 37 weeks.