Yesterday, the priority for Jeanine and I, as chaperones for the ski weekend retreat, was to ensure that all the food needed for the next six meals was staged and ready for the athletes to prepare. Today, we had time to do a little skiing ourselves.  Jeanine has her own cross country skis and a modest amount of experience. I rented a pair for my first attempt at the sport.  Maya switched to classic style skis and coached us during the morning. Jeanine and I covered 4 miles in a little under 2 hours.  I fell 8 times but looked fairly competent by the time we finished. Jeanine fell twice, both times caused by me (as was the case during my initial attempt at alpine skiing, going was far easier than stopping). In the afternoon, Jeanine returned to the condos to get dinner started while I switched to skate style skis and logged another 3.5 miles.  I lost count of how many times I fell but not the number of bruises I sustained (approximately 2 per mile).  By the end of the afternoon I had progressed from totally spastic to moderately spastic.  I may have even accidentally strung together two to three proper strides.  At the very least, I came away with a deep appreciation for the difficulty of skate style skiing and new admiration for what Maya has accomplished over a relatively short period of time.