{"id":8713,"date":"2021-02-21T22:56:01","date_gmt":"2021-02-21T22:56:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/?p=8713"},"modified":"2021-05-29T15:42:23","modified_gmt":"2021-05-29T15:42:23","slug":"f-ck-fifty-one","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/f-ck-fifty-one\/","title":{"rendered":"F\u2011ck Fifty-one"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This morn\u00ading, to cel\u00ade\u00adbrate my birth\u00adday and the fact that I\u2019m prob\u00ada\u00adbly in the best shape of my life since I was 17, I went cross-coun\u00adtry ski\u00ading alone at a local state park (James Baird). Any\u00adone who knows me or has fol\u00adlowed my blog for a while knows there\u2019s noth\u00ading unusu\u00adal about this. Indeed, it\u2019s axiomat\u00adic: If there\u2019s snow on the ground with\u00adin 100 miles of where Chris Orcutt lives, chances are he\u2019s out there cross-coun\u00adtry ski\u00ading on it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Any\u00adway, while I was ski\u00ading this morn\u00ading, climb\u00ading up and glid\u00ading down the rolling park hills, ski\u00ading off-trail far away from the machine-made path, my 76-year-old father, Al, hap\u00adpened to show up at the park as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Al\u2019s been ski\u00ading for 25 or 30 years and was out there this morn\u00ading for an hour of exer\u00adcise. I spot\u00adted him a quar\u00adter-mile away or so. He was head\u00ading for a fork in the trail, so I picked up the pace to cut him off. Sud\u00adden\u00adly I saw him stop in the dis\u00adtance and had no idea why. He was watch\u00ading me. I raced the rest of the dis\u00adtance, run\u00adning up the snow-cov\u00adered hills with a brisk her\u00adring\u00adbone step, and zip\u00adping down the oth\u00ader side. When I caught up to him he gave a start.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

-<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My 76-year-old father, Big Al, still ski\u00ading strong.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

-<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s wrong, Dad?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOh, Chris,\u201d he said in his inim\u00aditable Downeast Maine accent, \u201cthat\u2019s you! I didn\u2019t even rec\u00adog\u00adnize you! I thought you were a pro\u00adfes\u00adsion\u00adal Nordic ski\u00ader out there, like some of the guys I\u2019ve seen up at Lake Placid.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThanks, Dad,\u201d I said. \u201cThat might be the nicest com\u00adpli\u00adment you\u2019ve ever giv\u00aden me.\u201d (Although he\u2019s been equal\u00adly com\u00adpli\u00admen\u00adta\u00adry of my nov\u00adels as well.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI mean it,\u201d he said. \u201cYou\u2019re doing every\u00adthing<\/em> right out there, and so smoothly\u2014gliding along like you were born on these things.\u201d He picked up one foot with the ski attached.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We skied for an hour togeth\u00ader, as we have just about every day this sea\u00adson while there\u2019s been snow on the ground, and then we went our sep\u00ada\u00adrate ways. We\u2019ll prob\u00ada\u00adbly meet up again tomor\u00adrow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

-<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a rule, I don\u2019t smile very much. The fact that I\u2019m smil\u00ading in this pho\u00adto tells you how much I love X\u2011C ski\u00ading.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

-<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here\u2019s the thing: I\u2019ve been cross-coun\u00adtry ski\u00ading for about 22 years. This year, how\u00adev\u00ader, every\u00adthing has clicked and I\u2019ve gone to a new lev\u00adel in my skills. After hun\u00addreds and hun\u00addreds (prob\u00ada\u00adbly thou\u00adsands of hours) over the past 22 years, all of the ele\u00adments have come togeth\u00ader: the prac\u00adtice on the trail (includ\u00ading ski\u00ading through bliz\u00adzards); study\u00ading books on the sub\u00adject and watch\u00ading videos on it; my year-round strength train\u00ading; the yoga and TB12 flexibility\/pliability work I\u2019ve been doing for the past 5 years or so; my sobri\u00adety; my men\u00adtal matu\u00adri\u00adty and for\u00adti\u00adtude; and the self-direc\u00adtion and self-dis\u00adci\u00adpline I\u2019ve devel\u00adoped from 30 years as a pro\u00adfes\u00adsion\u00adal writer\u2014all of these dis\u00adparate ele\u00adments have coa\u00adlesced to take my cross-coun\u00adtry ski skills to a new lev\u00adel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

-<\/p>\n\n\n\n