From the FasterSkier archive — posts syndicated from athletes’ and coaches’ own blogs between 2004 and 2012, kept online as published. Current coverage is at fasterskier.com.

Half as cool as the rest of the team

Today I only raced 25 kilometers, which is half as far as all of my teammates, so I can’t really pretend to have any great stories. In particular, here is some trivia to describe how un-exciting and un-speedy my race was: my 25K took me more than half as long as Hannah’s 50K, so her split would have been faster than my whole race.

I was out there to survive and finish, and not get sick again. I was not “going for it” because getting sick is probably the worst thing I can imagine right now. Here’s why, presented as a trio of fun facts:

1) In the last two and a half weeks, I have gotten pummeled by 2 different head colds.

2) During that time, I took six days off.

3) My time for today’s race, 1:36, is longer than any ski I have done those two and a half weeks.

That said, I had fun!

So, congrats to all of my teammates who skied fast and gave it their all. The gym looked like a war zone after the race, with Ollie sprawled on the floor and Matt unable to open his eyes and dripping huge snot icicles. They went for it. I’m exhausted so I can’t imagine how tired they must be.

As for me, with a little luck I’ll be back to my usual self for next weekend Eastern Cups at Stowe – I can’t wait.