Slush in Sochi, fresh snow in Bay State

While the Olympic cross country skiers are getting slush and 50-degree temperatures in Sochi, we?ve got some fresh snow for the weekend.Actually, even before the snowstorm, this week was a good one for cross country skiing here in Eastern Massachusetts. We had plenty of snow, and while some of it was the crumbly, hard-to-get-through kind, there were also places where you could glide across the surface.Before the arrival of Thursday?s snow, the challenge for skiers was the cold. We had temperatures in the single digits and in the low teens. When I went out skiing Wednesday morning, I was glad I had my Bruins hat with earflaps and a pair of gloves. The cold stings, especially when you first step outside.Skiing does help you warm up, even when temperatures are hovering around 10 degrees out. A few trips around the soccer field at Russell Field in Cambridge and my bulky green jacket started feeling too hot. The field is a good place to practice. It?s flat, which helps. You can ski in a straight line, you can work on your turns, you can create an “inside” and an “outside” track, you can ski in your tracks until they?re good and smooth. I didn?t do any figure-eights, though.Earlier this week, my girlfriend Laura and I went for a morning ski. After a cup of coffee to help get us out the door, we skied along the North Cambridge bike path at 8:30, going up the little hill (would it qualify as a mogul?) near the soccer field and continuing until we reached the football stadium bleachers. I guess, that morning, we were a little bit like the skiers in New Hampshire who get up at “dawn?s early light.”Over in Sochi, the greatest cross country skiers in the world faced internal and external tests on Thursday. The women?s 10K classical course sounded like more slush than snow. American skier Sophie Caldwell went sleeveless, and told the Associated Press, “It?s definitely the warmest and softest I?ve skied in in a long time.” The image of sleeveless or short-sleeved Olympians in Sochi reminded me of similarly-attired skiers on warm weekends at the Weston Ski Track.Women?s winner Justyna Kowalczyk of Poland prevailed despite skiing with a fractured right foot. She took a painkiller that numbed her ache for three hours and completed the distance in 28:17.8. When I skied on Wednesday, I had a bit of an ache in my ankle … I can only imagine how hard it must have been for an elite athlete like Kowalczyk.Well, we may not be going to Sochi anytime soon, but perhaps with this snowfall, we?ll think about other venues. In one of Matt Lauer?s commercial breaks Thursday morning, there was a travel ad for Bretton Woods. It was fun skiing in the White Mountains last year.