I found out a couple of weeks ago from a friend that Special Olympics does snowshoeing and cross country skiing during the Winter months. We hadn't heard about it yet - which was why we had signed Connor up for Basketball. Basketball is actually pretty darn loud and crowded - not the best combination for Connor.
This friend attends my church & also has a Special Olympian daughter. She let me know they'd be going up this weekend & where to meet. Since I have my own skis & Special Olympics provides the snowshoes, all we needed was to pack a lunch :)
Its about 90 minutes to get to Diamond Lake, where there are plenty of nice trails & a lodge with a restaurant & restroom. The lake is actually frozen over right now & covered with snow. I wasn't expecting that :)
Connor put on his new Kamik snowboots & a couple of folks helped get him into his snowshoes. Within 10 minutes though, he was teary-eyed. He wanted to ski! Most of the Special Olympians are on the snowshoes, mainly because it requires a lot less coordination. Well, Connor's pretty dang coordinated, and lucky for him, our feet are close to the same size. I swapped his boots for my cross country shoes, and got him hooked up on my skis.
Apparently, he's a natural. The folks that put the SO stuff together were very, very impressed by how quickly he picked up the skiing. I was impressed that he kept going, even when his arms hurt from using the poles (at the beginning, when he was using them to push himself). He fell a lot, but got right back up - well, once he'd sampled the snow from where he was laying.
All in all, he skied a good three hours, with a lunch break in between. We missed the deadline to compete this year in Bend, but I'm pretty sure he'll be on board next year!
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Wow! I was just telling Carl when we watched a movie where people were cross country skiing, "you know, it isn't as easy as it looks!" Well, thanks for proving me wrong! Way to go Connor!
Glad to know someone is using your skis!
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