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• santiocariz 4:35 am on November 1, 2011 Permalink | Reply  

  The “Fall Crunch” 

  By Santi Ocariz

  On the last day of camp vacation out in Utah several of us had the opportunity to accompany fellow friend and ski enthusiast Dave Knoop on a Nordic Dave adventure.  This was the last hurrah for camp out in Utah and a great time to fulfill the need for summer adventure.  Dave, Waylon, Carolyn, Jennie, and I hiked into the mountains surrounding Salt Lake City and fulfilled our desire to get some scrambling style mountain climbing in.

  

  The mountain from a distance

  

  Waylon striking a pose at the top

  

  Dave and Waylon at the top

  The awesome day was just the refresher needed before returning to the Midwest for the “fall crunch” as I like to call it.  Mid October/Early November presents the largest training volumes of the year in accompaniment with work, ski and race preparations, family visits, ski clinics, working at Super Fit clinics around the Midwest, and of course some random fun activities.

  

  Getting together with the family to cheer for my sisters and their team at the sectional cross country meet.

  

  Halloween fun! (yes we went trick-or-treating)

  The really exciting part of the “fall crunch” is the anticipation that there are just a few more weeks left until  the race season begins!
   

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• santiocariz 6:07 pm on August 22, 2011 Permalink | Reply  

  Run For Snow 

  By Santi Ocariz

  Last weekend Carolyn and I had the opportunity to visit Madison for the Run For Snow put on by Dave and Renee Callaway.  Dave and Renee were putting on the event at Elver Park in Madison.  They put the proceeds towards supporting the CXC’s Adopt an Athlete program.  Dave and Renee generously chose to adopt Carolyn as their athlete for the year.  The event consisted of a short children’s race, 5k, 9k, and 15k trail races.

  

  A future champion digging deep!

  

  

  Carolyn cruising through the finish

    After running with the kids in the short race, Carolyn and I jumped into the 5k race.  The course was very well marked and wound around the ball fields and up on the park’s ski trails.  It was a very fun course with nice gradual climbs and downhills.

  

  Carolyn and Renee handing out awards, this one to the 15km Male race winner (Chris Pappathopoulos).

  Upon race completion we were able to cheer on the other runners and satisfy our hunger with some great post-race bagels and ice cream.

  The day proved to be a great success, and we send a big thank you to Dave, Renee, and everyone else that helped out!  For everyone reading this that enjoys trail races and would like to support the CXC program, we highly recommend joining in on the event next year!
   

• santiocariz 4:56 am on August 1, 2011 Permalink | Reply  

  The Big Day 

  By Santi Ocariz

  

  It’s taken a bit longer than I would have liked to get this blog out, but now that the last 6 weeks of suitcase living have ended, the time has come.  On June 26^th Carolyn Freeman and I were married at St. Francis de Sales Church in my hometown of Spooner, WI!

  The day started by finishing the last decorative touches at the reception hall.  After setting up, the sprint to get dressed and cleaned up in time began.  Being a guy, this was the easy part! With a quick shower and shave, the only things to worry about were keeping the shirt and the suit free of stains while eating and preventing my parent’s German Shepherds hair from carpeting my suit!  Of this Carolyn must have been jealous.  However when we arrived at the first look photos, Carolyn was gorgeous and had a bridal glow.  The ceremony followed. We were both overjoyed to witness so many of our friends and family come to witness our marriage and help us celebrate with the reception that followed.  Being the skiers we are, we couldn’t help but walk out through a ski pole arch formed by the bridal party. 

    More photos followed between the ceremony and the reception.  There again we dabbled in a few ski themed photos.

  

  During the reception we cut the cakes with our Ka-bar hunting/adventuring knife.

  

   Following the meal and speeches, we proceeded to dance the night away with our family and friends!

  

  "Twist and Shout" first dance!

  

  What a great way to start our life journey together!
   

• santiocariz 3:29 pm on April 8, 2011 Permalink | Reply  

  Altitude Simulation 

  Santi Ocariz

  The Great Lakes Region has some great cross-country terrain gifted by its rolling hills and soft landscape, but it doesn’t have mountains and therefore lacks the altitude necessary for racing well in the west.  I’ve frequently been asked how I prepare for altitude racing.  In preparation for the Supertour finals in Sun Valley, I used the CXC altitude tent along with arriving at elevation 10 days before.  This is the same strategy I used last year to prepare for the NCAA finals in Steamboat Springs, CO.  Using the tent helps stimulate the body to begin the acclimation steps necessary for racing well at higher altitudes. The tent generator pumps nitrogen into an enclosed area to reduce the concentration of oxygen.  This ‘imitation altitude’ effect stimulates the kidneys to release the erythropoietin necessary to produce the red blood cell count needed for altitude racing.  The altitude tent isn’t quite as effective as spending extra time at high elevations, but it is a feasible alternative to spending hundreds of dollars moving out west three weeks prior to competitions.

  
  
   

• santiocariz 3:46 pm on April 6, 2011 Permalink | Reply  

  March Meanderings 

  Santi Ocariz

  The month of March presented me with some great travel opportunities.   It started with a trip out to Stowe, Vermont to help the Green Bay team (Carolyn Freeman) at the NCAA championships.  Upon completion of the week it was off to Concord, NH to visit my teammate Eric and catch a flight to the west!!  The week that followed was spent in Steamboat Springs, CO visiting the Cheesebro brothers, training, acclimating to the western altitude, and jumping into the Coureur des Bois ski race!

  

  The weather was wonderfully agreeable with plenty of warm sunshine.  Upon completing the race, I met up with both friend and fellow skiing addict Dave Knoop, and caught a ride to his place in Park City, Utah.  A couple days were spent there visiting and resting for the greatly anticipated week to follow, Distance Nationals and the Super-tour finals in Sun Valley, ID!

  

  View from the Lake Creek trails in Sun Valley

  The races lived up to their reputation in difficulty.  With over 4,000 ft. of total climbing and slow conditions, the 50km course officially kicked my butt.  For the first time ever in my racing career I found myself incapable of finishing.  Fortunately the rest of the team was able to pull through and finish solidly.  The following week of the finals also presented to be difficult but quite enjoyable, especially the final race, the hill-climb!

  

  Jennie finishing the hill-climb

  I had been looking forward to this race most of the year and it proved to be just what I expected, a painfully slow uphill grinder, my favorite!  The icing on the cake came the following day, though.  Karl and I went crust skiing up at Galena and had a blast jumping off berms and skiing wherever we pleased!

  

  Karl atop a cliff

  

  The start of a great morning ski!

  
  
   

• santiocariz 3:29 am on March 10, 2011 Permalink | Reply  

  Brushes and Acrylics 

  By Santi Ocariz

  As the Birkie week drew to a close, the excitement of the race carried on through the week.   Following the race, my main focus switches from distance skate performances, to distance classic.  One of my favorite aspects of our sport is this diversity of racing and training.  Much of our team (including myself) will be focusing on preparing for the races in Sun Valley, ID at the end of the month.  In anticipation of the trip, I have been dabbling with paints and brushes in the evenings.  I have completed a painting that I am putting up for silent auction to try to offset the travel expenses accompanying the spring series races.

  

  "Solitude"

  The 24×30’’ acrylic painting (approximately 28×34 with frame) is called “solitude” and is of one of my favorite and arguably the most difficult ski race in North America, the 90 km North Routt Coureur des Bois (Clark, CO).

  The race course takes you up Hahn’s Peak (the mountain in the background) and over the continental divide. At times, the course separates the racers by kilometers leaving them to endure a long solitary effort.

  I am starting the auction at $300 and will be extending it through April.  If interested in supporting my spring racing by bidding on the painting email me at sa.ocariz@gmail.com with your name, phone number, and bid amount!
   

• santiocariz 10:34 pm on December 31, 2010 Permalink | Reply  

  December Snows 

  

  Rosy's field (along the Birkie trail) following the snow storms

  This month has proven to carry a refreshing variety of training temperatures and trail conditions.  Upon returning from the perfect trails resulting from the blizzards in West Yellowstone, I was greeted by enough snow to rock ski on my favorite trail, The Birkie Trail.  Even with sparse snow it makes for endless enjoyable skiing.   Within a couple days there were enough flurries to perfect the trails before an arctic front blew in from the north.  With Temperatures plummeting into the negative teens the mask, ear bags, and thick polypro clothes came out.

  

  Morning run at -17 F

  The cold front was followed by mild temperatures which were spent in northern Minnesota with Carolyn and her family.  It was a nice treat being able to ski a Giants Ridge and Hidden Valley  wearing less than 3 layers of clothes!  To conclude December, Cork and I drove to Rumford, Maine for Senior Nationals and met up with the rest of the team.  Here we have been greeted by warm sunny weather.  Even though I love spring skiing weather, it would be nice if the warmth could wait in order to preserve the trails until the competitions are complete!

  

  The stadium (clean section of trail) at the Senior Nationals venue

   

  Paris Bubash is discussing. Toggle Comments

   

  • Paris Bubash 10:14 pm on January 16, 2011 Permalink | Reply

    I learned a lot from this article. Thanks for posting it.

• santiocariz 2:00 am on November 4, 2010 Permalink | Reply  

  Costumes, Carvings, and Candy 

  Halloween, quite possibly one of my favorite holidays, was spent doing the usual festivities; pumpkin carving, putting on a costume, and going trick-or-treating!!!  Never mind the fact I’m 24.  The day started with the 10 mile Stump Farm race just outside of Green Bay, Wisconsin.  Being still in the recovery stage after having mono, I took pictures of my old GB teammates and ran with my fiancée, Carolyn, serving as her “Sherpa”.

  In the afternoon, clothing modifications and body painting prevailed in creating trick-or-treat worthy costumes (Despite our age, every house loved the costumes and gave us extra candy).

  

  Carolyn (as Sally in "The Nightmare before Christmas") and I posing with our pumpkin.

  

  Carving close up

  After 2 hours of running from door to door, Carolyn and I went over our “spoils” and redistributed their contents, leaving me with a Walgreens bag of candy with plenty of Butterfinger bars!!!   Oooooooo yaaaaa!

  

  The night's spoils

  Another successful October 31^st!

  P.S.  I also discovered that moccasins are very comfortable to run in.  I may be sporting them on a few more runs in the future!

   

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  • Andrew 5:02 am on November 7, 2010 Permalink | Reply

    Are you a minimalist runner? If you like moccasins, try aqua shoes or hurarches, and if you haven’t, read Born to Run. Oh, and stay awesome.

• santiocariz 3:11 am on October 1, 2010 Permalink | Reply  

  The Rest Day 

  By Santi Ocariz

  As the team concludes the 7th day of training camp in Lake Placid, we are rewarded for the weeks effort with a rest day.  This brings up possibilities for exploring town, playing games, reading, computer work, and various other forms of entertainment.  A few of us were getting a little cabin fever from spending all our time in the training center so Gus, Garrott, Tad, Jessie, and I caught a ride into town.  I was on a mission to find some painting supplies to occupy my down time during the week.  I struck gold at the local book store and purchased acrylic paints, and a few 60 cent brushes.  Next on my list was to find a cheep canvas to paint on.  Considering that new canvases run upwards of 30$ I decided to try my luck at finding a used one at a thrift store and simply paint over it.

  

  The ski jumps engulfed in fog behind Mirror Lake

  After about an hour of walking around town in the rain, I finally found a thrift store. Unfortunately there was a catch.  None of their canvases/paintings were for sale!!   This only temporarily dampened my enthusiasm.   I continued on my trek and stopped at a consignment shop to try my luck.  I found a canvas with a bunch of paint dots on it.  I got pretty excited with the thought that “a painting this hideous has to be cheep!”  It was not to be so.  Ater finding out they wanted $45 for it, I moved onto plan C.  Plan C consisted of stopping at the lumberyard and seeing if they had masonite.  I was in luck.  For 13$  I was able to cut a 4X8 foot sheet of masonite  into six 24×32 inch sheets.  Along with my six new tablets I purchased a small can of white primer to complete the needed painting supplies.

  

  Primed masonite (the blank canvas)

  The rest of the day was spent prepping my painting tablets by priming them, and of course a few games of ping-pong and pool were required to make the day complete.

  

  Carl, Jessie, and Tad playing ping-pong

  

  Cut-throat pool
   

• santiocariz 3:53 am on September 1, 2010 Permalink | Reply  

  Cable Cuisine 

  By Santi Ocariz

  When asked by fellow skiers and silent sports athletes about my current place of employment, I mention The Rivers Eatery in Cable, WI as my main supporter in generating income.  However, I am often surprised that these fellow Birkie, Firehouse 50, and Fat Tire Fest enthusiasts haven’t heard about the greatest pizza restaurant in the northwoods!!   The Rivers Eatery is Located on Kavanaugh Road in downtown Cable.  It is across the street (County Rd M) from Rondeau’s Shopping Center  (attached to the Ideal Market).  The pizzeria is owned and run by the Endersbe family (Mick, Beth, and daughters Carly and Libby).  They serve a variety of flavorful pizzas to fit everyone’s taste,  from unique  pizzas like the tangy Namaji (tai) pizza to more common flavors like the Big Brook (pepperoni) pizza.  However, common is still an understatement.  The Endersbe family have worked hard to create healthy pizza recipes that are big on flavor and health (a perfect pre and post race meal.  Bjorn Daehlie ate there the night before and rushed back right after the Birkie for more!).  They use  local organic ingredients and fire the pizzas in a stone oven to bring out a  flavor far superior to even the best common pizza (I still get excited when I get to bring leftovers home!!).  They also serve salads, frozen yogurt and sundaes, wine, common soda, local root beer,  and wide variety of Wisconsin local micro-brews including several of Hayward’s own Angry Minnow beers.  I could go on and on with the details about this wonderful eatery, but I will leave it at this so you can discover all the other great details  for yourself by visiting their website http://theidealmarket.com and stopping in next time you are in the Hayward/Cable area skiing or biking!

  

  Inside the Rivers Eatery

  

  Pizza Menu