Obama Mamas

Today was the Ski For Women - an annual event held on Superbowl Sunday as a fund raiser for AWAIC (Abused Women's Aid in Crisis).

me, Julie, Laura (Winston's Mom's Sister)

Winston's Mom was also supposed to attend, however she's come down w/a yucky bug & wasn't feeling well enough ski. We missed her! Please send her get well wishes!

This event is North America’s largest women-only cross-country ski event & is such fun! It's not billed as a race, but as an event to bring women together to support other women. Men participate too, but they do not ski. You'll find men in a building waxing skis, you'll find men volunteering in the finish chute, and tons of men (my DH and boys included) cheering all the women along. Even the men's restrooms in the Kincaid chalet are re-designated as women's restrooms. Men have to find facilities in the nearby waxing building. :0)

Many participants wear costumes - some simple (like our Obama Mama t-shirts) and some very elaborate. Of course, I didn't pull out my camera to capture any (visit the website - you'll get to see lots). Julie & I were lucky enough to get out on the course in a reasonable time. We arrived at Kincaid approximately 45 minutes prior to our start time. Since it was cold, again, (-6°F this morning) we wanted to get our skis waxed with the appropriate wax & take the time to put on our Obama tattoos. We certainly didn't rush & when we got down to the stadium to get ready for our wave, we realized our wave was leaving in 5 seconds. Oops... so - without any warm-up, we shuffled over & set out on the 4K trail. We were unable to meet up with Laura prior to the start due to missing each other's cell phone calls. No cell service was available in the stadium area either. Oh well - Laura was kind enough to wait for us to finish so we could get together for a quick photo.

While I certainly didn't ski with any record breaking speed, it was a great way to spend a beautiful (albeit cold) day with friends in support of a worthwhile cause.

More knitting later - I've cast on the RSC January kit. Umm beads - not feeling the love so much!

Ciao ~