It’s nice to be out of the wind and eating warm food.

Day 16Hours traveled: 9
Miles traveled: 12.5
Total miles traveled: 180.8
Elevation: 3725 feet
Temperature:  – 10 F with wind chill.

Translation from voicemail: Team 3belowzero, day 16. Well, I have to admit today I felt a little out of sorts. Maybe it was I didn’t get enough sleep or maybe was working hard for sixteen days straight. Maybe it was the fifteen, ten to fifteen mile per hour winds that we we’re heading into all day long or maybe the fact that my ipod battery died after one hour. Whatever the reason for the nine hours of skiing today I never got into a groove.

When I got into the tent I thought of a journal entry I made a couple of days ago that was quite a contrast to today and so I thought I’d share. Just pick a few of the words from that journal entry. This was from a couple days ago. And this says I kicked the day off listening to Christmas mix. Mostly songs by Jim Brickman accompanied by various singers. But the song, People get ready, there’s a train a coming, that one. When that came on it instantly took hold of my mind and body. You know how songs can do that sometimes, transport you, completely in the moment, in the flow, feeling my body power uphill, effortlessly hauling my sled. And more, it seemed to be a portal, even to my very soul. I became a swirling whirlpool of emotions mixed with tears and laughter. I felt so alive, full of energy, thankful to be here. Marty skied behind me in his own world. But here I was experiencing this moment to the fullest, pure happiness, what a gift.

Well, that was two days ago, quite a contrast to today. But I’d like to just keep that in mind. And remember that there’s gonna be days when you have that kind experience and other days where it’s just getting through the day.

So, what I wanted to do is give a shout out today to our friend and mentor Keith Heger from Polar Explorers. He did, we did a lot of training with him and we want to thank him for that. Also one of the pieces of advice he gave us is to make sure we have fun so that kinda rang true today for me as I was thinking about trying to have fun today even though I was struggling a bit. But we’re back in the tent and eating some warm food and pretty excited to be warm and out of the wind. That’s it for today. Have a great evening or day and we will be back with you tomorrow. Thank you, bye bye.

Marty reports via email that they have only 18.6 miles before their big left hand turn to the pole.