Ain't No Mountain High Enough

Above - Julia Mancuso making me covet her thighs.

Since January 1st...

I've spent countless hours on the elliptical machine, I've been weight training, and I am down ten pounds. Instead of longing to wear a supermodel size, I now feel pangs of jealousy when I see the muscular legs of the women's ski team on TV. (Seriously. They look like they can crush a coconut with their thighs. That rocks.)

In Recent Days...

I've been reading ski magazines, watching shows I Tivo'd on skiing technique, stretching, still hitting the gym almost daily. I suspect I may have made the discovery that I actually have butt muscles (someone alert National Geographic or the Science Channel--this is groundbreaking).

Tonight...

I rode five miles on the exercise bike and did 50 squats (heck yeah, I said 50). More stretching.

Two Days Till I Leave to Ski and Just One More Work-Out to Go...

New mountain. New trails. New challenges. I've never worked so hard before a ski trip in my life--so is it stupid that I'm a little bit nervous (although excited) now that it's almost here?

What if I didn't work hard enough? What if I get to a black diamond trail and it threatens to kick my butt? What if my pasty-whiteness scares my friends in the hot-tub? (Yeah, that part of it is probably going to be a problem no matter what. I just need to accept that.)

What it boils down to is this: When real life is filled with tornadoes, threats of job layoffs, taxes, and other stresses, sometimes preparing to take on a real mountain can really be a nice distraction from one's own real life "mountain" of crap.

Plus, I really would like to earn legs like Julia Mancuso's...