Spring is in the Air

I took a couple days off last week so I could help run the last ski race of the season at Snowbird. I am responsible for recruiting volunteers and making sure they show up. As the requirements to be either a finish or start referee limits the pool of volunteers, I often end up being one of them. The start referee at a ski race is a thankless job that requires a bladder of steel as you are stuck at the top of the race hill all day long. Fortunately I had someone who wanted the job for all but one day. Even then, I had someone willing to stay at the top of the race course when I needed to take a bio break.

I switched off being the finish referee with my wife for the remaining three days. This allowed me to do a bit of skiing with friends from work. When I would get tired and need a break, I would head down to the race hill and relieve my wife. On Sunday, I took full-time duty as the finish ref and sat at the bottom of the race hill in a wet snowstorm. After almost 4 hours in the elements, I felt frozen and the need to go inside. It was at this point that a number of the boys came down the race course wearing helmets, goggles, gloves, skis, ski boots, their race bib, swimsuits, and nothing else. What a crazy bunch of guys. I couldn't help but laugh as I saw them go by.

This morning I got on a plane and headed to sunny California. It was so warm, I rode back to my boat this evening without a jacket and enjoyed the warm spring air. I'm not quite ready for ski season to be over but I am looking forward to not being so cold. As it warms up outside, take the opportunity to grab your laptop or tablet and see if you can spend more time outdoors. I have had the boat opened up this evening as I work on the computer and it has been wonderful. Of course I did have to put my sweater back on once the sun went down, but it felt good to be out in the fresh air.