Report on US Nationals
Skating up the hills of Houghton, MI in the 15 km individual start
Howdy All,
It’s a bit late for the update on the last few races, but I have good reasons… Many of you know I spent 2 months in Africa on a river trip of a lifetime down the Blue Nile in October -December 2017; well Curtis and I finally got a spot to present to a larger audience last week about the trip and have been focused on making that presentation a great one. It was a huge success with a record breaking crowd in attendance and it was filmed! You can watch the whole at the bottom of this post!
Back to skiing now. The last 4 races all took place in Houghton, MI and made up the 2020 US National Championships. It was a week of really tough competition and my first US Nationals in 7 years. It was humbling, inspiring, educational and perspective gaining. Also my first time racing at low altitude since college and that was also an experience.
No, I did not have the results I was hoping for. But when looking at the results and in talking with career coaches, it is evident we are seeing the strongest men’s field the sport has ever seen. The strength of our nations skiers is jaw dropping. One example is JC, a U20 skier who not only won our sprint qualifier, but then went on to place top 30 in the World Cup sprints in Dresden one week later. It's incredible to think we are now making skiers who are among the best skiers in the world and this is the field I chose to jump into after 7 years off FIS racing. Combined with racing 4 times in 6 days at low altitude, I’m not surprised the week turned into a building block for the races to come and not the culmination of the season I wanted. Luckily there are plenty more races left this season.
There are many other positives that have come out of the season thus far as well. It never ceases to amaze me how community oriented the Nordic world can be. Many, many people were out cheering for me, some I have not seen in years, others I didn’t even recognize, but all excited to see me with a bib on. I also cannot think of a better way to learn about racing than by racing with the best. And racing is the best way to test your training plan, which I now have an increasing amount of feedback on, and areas of strength and weakness in the plan and my abilities.
Lot’s of work to do still (including dealing with a nagging spinal issue from last year…) and lots of races to come before seasons end. This weekend is the Craftsbury, VT Super Tour (I’m actually on my way to Craftsbury right now) and I couldn’t be more excited to be back on some old college tramping grounds.
Thank you all again for your support and cheers. Another update to come in a few weeks after the VT races and some FIS, RMISA races coming to Aspen in February.
-Scott