Try Nordic skating in New England

"Don't push yourself too much," he said. "You don't have to race all the time. You can also just take your time and rest when you need to rest, and just make it a joyful event."

Though he has competed in numerous marathons and races, Kok said winning isn't his main motivation.

"It's the air, the openness. I love to be outside ... to be part of this open space here," he said.

Kok, who lives in Durham, N.C., said one of his first skating experiences in the United States was a tour of New York's Lake George.

"It was just amazing to cross a big open space while you're skating," he said. "Sometimes it's a little overwhelming because here it's very quiet, but sometimes in those big open spaces you hear all those sound because of the ice cracking, because it's still freezing, it's expanding."

Hess tells his students to enjoy the different sounds the ice makes.

"When the ice is making noise, generally it's a good thing. Especially the deep booming sounds that make you think a big hole's about to open up right under you. That's actually a good sound because it means the ice is thickening and strengthening," he said.

The loudest noise I heard was the soft scratching of my blades as I wobbled over the shallow air pockets in the ice and the cheerful greetings as one by one, nearly all the members of my group passed me by. Hess's 14-year-old son had whizzed by twice.

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Tim Garrand of Londonderry and his 14-year-old daughter, Danielle, both admitted they were worried they were in over their heads for the first few minutes on Nordic skates despite years of cross country skiing and inline skating experience.

"Both of us were thinking, 'Oh my God, I don't think I'm going to be able to do this," Tim Garrand said. "But once we got a little more used to it, we had a great time."

So great in fact, that they returned to the lake the next day and skated for 12 miles. As for me, I started to get discouraged about halfway around the lake, until I suddenly realized that I could simply unclip my blades and walk the rest of the way. That knowledge alone was enough to get me to the finish line.

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