Tuesday, March 11, 2008

More on the Races...

Goggle is amazing. I wrote a blog yesterday about ski racing up at Boyne Mountain, and mentioned my daughter Angie, who raced this past weekend with me and the rest of the gang. She calls me up about a half hour after I posted the blog, and tells me she just typed in "Angie" and "ski" on Google (she was looking for something related to the races) and my blog came up. Somehow Google grabbed onto those two words and found my blog that easily. I find that truly amazing. I, of course, had to try it myself, and yes, she's right. It did.

I have no idea how many people actually read this blog. I enjoy writing it, and that's enough for me. Hopefully, it brings some enjoyment to others. It does remind me of when I used to keep a journal, and wrote about anything and everything that interested me. Of course, this is the Internet, so I can't be quite as personal as I was then.

But let me finish up about the races. We had three days of racing over the weekend, a slalom race on Friday, a giant slalom race on Saturday, and a race we call the Cantor Cup on Sunday, in honor of Larry Cantor, a former racer and an extremely nice guy. I knew him well. He died during a race. I was gate keeping his course when it happened. He had a heart attack, had a heart condition, and wasn't supposed to be racing at all, but he loved it. He was in his early sixties, I believe. When it happened, the day had been cloudy and ugly, but after he passed, the clouds parted and the sun broke through. A lot of us figured Larry was letting us know he was okay. So his relatives built him a bench that sits on the deck of the race shack, and we honor him each year with a race on the last day.

So, to finish up, we had the three races, and as a result, Angie was a finalist for the year, and won the third place World Cup in her class. Marty, her fiance, won his first race, the Cantor Cup, dual slalom elimination style. He was the last man standing ... literally (very icy course). And Bruce (husband) had good results for the last half of the season, but missed out on a World Cup. Not a problem. He won his class the past four years running, very difficult to do. I had the two trophies from previous weekends, but didn't finish one race this time. I'll be buying some new race skis very soon.

Visit my website to read a FREE EXCERPT of my mystery romantic-suspense novel, Her Last Letter.

http://www.nancy-cjohnson.com/

Books are available online at Amazon and Barnes & Noble, and can be ordered through most bookstores.

Technorati Tags:
, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Monday, March 10, 2008

Ski Race Season over for the Year

Well, the race season is over for another year, but it was fun. I actually managed to get two trophies, a second and a third place, in my Vet A Women class. I think it had a lot to do with the fact that my daughter can watch my races this year. Before, we ran at the same time, but she's moved up to Elite II Women, a step above my class (a big step) and now she can watch my race. It has to be the reason I won something, because my skis are five seasons old; I didn't train, and though I usually work out extensively over the winter, I slacked off there too. But I wanted to ski well for her, and so concentrated very hard on my technique and was extra agressive.

We just got back from Boyne last night. It was really cold all weekend, but the sun stayed out. I will take sun and cold over warm and gloomy any day. The flat light on a cloudy day really takes away from the experience for me. I, like most skiers, like to be able to see the terrain. And on a super cloudy day, even the best goggles don't help much.

But we had three days of sun. The snow squeaked it was so cold, I think a minus one on Friday morning, but no wind. The slopes were perfectly groomed, and easy to ski, except once you stepped into the race course. That was solid ice, so solid even the best racers could not even begin to put a dent in it. I've never seen so many really great skiers slide out, or heard so many complaints. It really tested your ability, and your balance. Every racer out there sharpens and waxes their skis diligently before each race. You could cut yourself on their edges, but it was as if no one had done anything. We stood and watched as one skier after another fell on their behinds. One second they're upright, the next they're not. Like watching bowling pins go down.

I took two runs on the Giant Slalom course, the first not so bad because a little snow remained, the next run I slid out about a quarter of the way down and missed the gate. It was too far to climb back up; I would have interfered with the next racer, so I just skied the rest of the course the best I could. I was okay about it though. I did think seriously of buying new equipment for next year.

More on the races later....

Visit my website to read a FREE EXCERPT of my mystery romantic-suspense novel, Her Last Letter.

http://www.nancy-cjohnson.com/

Books are available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble, and can be ordered through most bookstores.

Technorati Tags:
, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Tuesday, March 4, 2008

A Great Day for a Signing

I thought you might like to hear how my latest book signing turned out. I have to admit I was nervous about the weather, worrying that the roads would be covered with snow and ice on my drive to Fenton. But it was a beautiful sunny day, the roads clear and dry. The journey didn't take as long as I thought it would, about forty-five minutes, and I tend to be a cautious driver, rarely exceeding the speed limit.

The owner of the Little Professor Book Center stationed all of us at the front of the store. Previously I mentioned six authors would sign, but actually it was eight of us. And I liked everybody! They were all so friendly! Two were children's book authors; the others wrote non-fiction. I bought of few of their books, and they bought a few of mine also. I've read each and thought them wonderfully entertaining!

Normally, a signing would last at most two hours, but this one was scheduled from 11:00 to 4:00, and most of us stayed, enjoying talking to each other when business slowed. I had a great time!

My daughter Angie stopped by and took pictures of us, and brought me something to drink, which was sweet of her. She stayed about a half hour, bought one of the author's books, and chatted with everyone.

All and all, it was a very good day.

Visit my website to read a FREE EXCERPT of my mystery romantic-suspense novel, Her Last Letter.

http://www.nancy-cjohnson.com/

Books are available online at Amazon and Barnes & Noble, and can be ordered through most bookstores.

Technorati Tags:
, , , , , , , , ,