Back in Norway

After 3 nice months back home in "quarantine", I flew from Detroit to LaGuardia and spent my birthday with Carolyn in NYC before I flew to Norway that night. While waiting for my bag to arrive at the airport, I spotted Loudon Wainwright (the folk singer/actor) chowing down on some Chinese food in the foodcourt. I was too shy to go up and ask for a picture. The next day Carolyn led us to the famous Magnolia Bakery in Greenwich Village and had a nice huge slice of vanilla cake, and that night I flew to Bergen from JFK.

I landed on the 24th and was greeted at the airport by Marius and Knut. I just tagged along with Marius' work stuff in the southern Norwegian town called Farsund the day after before we finally got to Oslo. I've had a whole week of birthday cakes! Mint chocolate at home, vanilla in NYC, and cheesecake in Oslo. Marius and I have been living with his parents since I got back, but we now have the keys to an apartment and will probably be moved in by the end of the week.

[Icon from the Lillehammer Winter Games '94]
Last weekend we were in Hafjell, a ski area near Lillehammer, on a cabin trip with some of Marius' friends from college. We went cross country skiing while the others went downhilling. We got there Friday night and threw on our skis to find where we could go on Saturday's long trip. It was snowing and got dark quite quick, but a portion of the trail was lit, so we were ok. Saturday we took a 22 mile (35km) loop behind the mountain that took 6 hours to complete. We didn't intend to go that far, but it would have been longer if we turned around when we realized how far we had gone. It was fun though :)

Both my heels are not in running shape for now. The left heel is recovering from a little bursitis that I acquired after skiing with Mom and running directly after for nearly 13 miles. I probably favored my right foot on Saturday, so now my right achilles is a little swollen. I'm doing the best I can to not let this injury last too long so that I can get back to my marathon prep. Race day is April 26!

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