EMBRACE IT!

I've begun to realize that sometimes in ski racing, conditions are far from ideal. Our carnival team learned that this weekend when they skated through some serious pow at prospect, which was accurately described [by I can't remember who] over the phone on Saturday night as, "very rough for the tall people." Our eastern cup women's team learned that this weekend as well, when we arrived within the hour to race start, hopping out of the van which we parked a walk away from the venue... it was a scramble to find bibs,  DOR, or as the sign said... "LATE" register, and get changed with time to do the ideal warm up... without skiing the course. So yeah, not ideal. It was more of a scramble than I can describe here. We were no Bowdoin, we had 50 more minutes than they did, but it was frazzling. 

In January we were snow-barren at Pineland. It was a TT day, but the weather...  not havin' it. Our beloved Oak Hill was ice, ice baby. So at the 11th hour, Becky said, "10 minutes to warm up, then interval workout!" It wasn't a big deal, but it threw us off. Knowing this, we got a little pep talk. Becky said something along the lines of... Things don't always go as planned. Our plan changed... adjust. Move on, and if you can't, I guarantee I'm going to see it in your skiing.       Yikes!  We all adjusted, and we worked like a team to have a great morning of intervals. 

That's what I was thinking of when we started to warm up on Saturday morning. Get over it... you sure as heck don't want anyone to know how flustered you're feeling! And we did just that. All five women bobcats were in the top 22... and the men had a good day, too!

So Bowdoin on Saturday, along with our E cup women, and our tall people... we all got over it, got our heads in the game, moved on, and skied well. Pretty awesome.

This time of year, there's midterms, carnivals, Eastern Cups, and also life. Chaos all around. Everybody's tired. But I know I'm not alone in realizing that they are a few pretty amazing things about this whole deal. First, what our bodies can accomplish when they are tired is pretty amazing. Second, the resiliency and flexibility that athletes can practice while under pressure is inspiring. And last, gosh, this is just a blast. So whatever comes your way... embrace it! 

-Tara