How 80 Day Obsession helped my skiing and gave me an experience of a lifetime!

In fact, prior to March 2018, I had only skied 6 total days in my entire life combined! If you don’t believe me, take a closer look at my ski jacket… it’s from American Eagle circa 1998ish and I purchased it at Century III mall (South Hills folks will understand the historical significance of that one)!

I’m still learning. I’m still working on my technique. I am slowly but surely building confidence in my skiing abilities and bravery and courage for the steeper terrain. My love for skiing shot to a new level in Vail.

I was pushed out of my comfort zone physically and mentally but it paid off in an incredible way both by the territory in Vail that was opened up to me because of being willing to take on some of the harder slopes, and more importantly, memories that will last a lifetime! The sense of joy for being able to experience nature in such a wondrous way, the sense of accomplishment and pride for being able to tackle such an intense physical and mental challenge, the gratitude for what my body can do, and the awe and amazement for what nature provides for us all made it the experience of a lifetime.

What I found so significant in this experience was that I might not have been able to get/see/do/experience ANY of this had it not been so physically prepped for this!

I wasn’t thinking specifically about skiing when I started 80 Day Obsession (nor did I realize at the time how much of a difference it would make), but once I was on the slopes, I was SOOOO grateful that I had had so many tough strength training and endurance workouts for the 2 months leading up it.

Prior to last month, I had never skied more than 1 or 2 days a YEAR so a full week of intense skiing at Vail, some days as much as 30 miles downhill and 21,000 vertical feet skied (literally a level I had never skied at before) REQUIRED me to be at my best to stay safe on the slopes. Because I don’t ski regularly, I would have never been able to handle the steep, tough terrain had my muscles and balance not have been inadvertently developed for it.

At one point while we were taking a break mid-run somewhere in the trees of Blue Sky Basin (one of Vail’s famous back bowls) I remember catching my breath while my quads were on fire and thinking, “Thank GOODNESS I do a lot of squats!”

We never know what’s going to come up in life whether it be a fun experience, a health challenge, or an uneven surface that could throw us off balance. This experience served as SUCH an amazing reminder that we should always do our best to be physically prepared for whatever may come up in life. This will definitely be something I keep in mind in the future each time I do a workout and feeling like quitting or taking it a little easier than I know I’m capable of. Our health is the most important thing but the fun things that come up are where the MAGIC is at!!