Zoya and I checked out the online Tour of Anchorage ski photos (by Michael Dinneen photography and available online at http://dinneenphoto.smugmug.com/ ), and I loved this one of me and the 'kid'. I raced practically the entire race with the 13 year-old 'kid' you see behind me in the photo. I beat him in the end, but I doubt I'll ever beat him again.
What I find funny is that I am so obviously the 'old grizzled veteran' while the thirteen year old is the fresh faced kid. I'm 10 years past my fastest race times while the 'kid' is still probably 10 years from his fastest time. One of us is on the up track while the other is going down.
It reminded me of that scene in Greek mythology where Oedipus meets the Sphinx and has to answer a riddle correctly or get eaten. The Sphinx asks the riddle, "What walks on four feet in the morning, two in the afternoon and three at night?". And Oedipus correctly answers: "Man: as an infant, he crawls on all fours; as an adult, he walks on two legs and; in old age, he uses a 'walking' stick". And so Oedipus survives to go on and do some pretty awful things, or at the very least, some cringe worthy things.
Anyway, so here I am in the photo one step removed from the 'three at night' stage while the kid is barely off of all fours. Patrick
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