Canmore Memories
It’s time to talk Canmore. I’m late in doing this and I really don’t have an excuse. I could claim that I was tired from our 40 plus hours of training. I could claim that I was too sleep deprived or sore or worn out from the 800 and then 500 mile days of driving back to back. After the Canmore trip all of those things were true. I can’t really recall being much more tired or sore than after that trip but none of that matters, because I definitely can’t recall being more content.
In our 2 weeks we did a lot of incredible things. We spent many dark, early, and frigid mornings in a parking lot putting on ski boots, not unlike the snow-deprived winters at Hyland downhill last year. We did Level 3 Threshold intervals on Frozen Thunder and there were lessons learned on the importance of pacing at altitude (cough cough me.) We climbed a mountain. True it nearly ended us but we managed to do it. We competed in Devon Kershaw’s uphill mountain running race the Spray Drag. We visited Banff’s famously beautiful Lake Louise and stopped at the worlds greatest gas station in Grand Forks (It had BATTLE AXES.) We did all types of workouts, but the really greatest parts of our trip were not the things we did or the places we visited, but the people we met.
During our trip Steve Sellers hosted us. A former ski racer from the Twin Cities, Steve knew Bill and organized our lodging and many of the workout as well as taking us to do things around town. Without Steve and his wife Deb, our trip wouldn’t have felt the same. Steve introduced us to a few Canadian skiers and biathletes and from there our network of people grew.
On our second day Steve took us on a 4 hour run over a mountain pass with 3 Canadian athletes Ian Murray, Matt Neuman, and John Skinstad. These guys became our friends over the course of the trip and did a few workouts with us. Ian even played host to our Midwest comrade Matt Liebsch during his stay in Canmore. Throughout the week we ate dinners at their houses and they ate at ours and the sense of brotherhood between everyone became hard to ignore.
I think the story that best showcases how people colored this trip the most was the story about our encounter with a former NFL Vikings kicker. On our long run Steve mentioned that Gary Anderson (the aforementioned Viking and 2nd all time NFL points scorer) lived in Canmore and we gushed at the chance to get to meet him. Steve somehow arranged a visit that would just be a 15-minute meet and greet with a few signed football cards. Instead Gary and his wife took us into their lavishly decorated home for 2 hours and answered every question we had and told us every story we wanted to hear. Not only about football but about his fly fishing golf, and life story. Only later did he top all of that by taking us into the trophy room letting us try on the Vikings helmet. The night ended with an invitation by Gary’s wife (a Minnesota native) to come back whenever we wanted to say hello. We all left and in the car were close to losing it and we called it “the best night yet”, though some were closer than others (cough cough me.)
The point that story was trying to make is that the generosity of people that we know and don’t know can affect all of our lives greatly. Steve’s effort to actually get us into the home of an NFL star, changed our trip and gave us an experience we’ll never forget. But it wasn’t just that; Ian, Matt, and John made us feel welcome in a foreign country. Jay Richards invited us for an adventure at Maplelag (though unfortunately we had to decline) and My Grandparents lent us a cabin and treated us to a feast. And the generosity of our Coach Bill can’t go unmentioned, because he made it all happen, and anyone who can put up with M.O.S.H. for 2 weeks on the road deserves some serious praise. If there’s anything I’ll remember from this trip 10 years from now it’s that the efforts small or large, of everyone in a really tiny world add up to make a huge difference and the ski community is no exception.
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