I've just come off a wonderful winter, one I wouldn't trade for anything. Hesitant as I was at first, dragged kicking and screaming from one of the greatest places on Earth, and a place I also felt "home", it turned into a wonderful experience that I wish weren't over quite yet... Thank you, Sugarloaf, for being this awesome:
I actually know a lot of these people...
But now to the important stuff. I could tell you I learned a lot this winter, and while a lot of that was how to actually enjoy PBR (because it's not about the quality of beer, but the people who bought it for you and whose next round you'll be buying), how to waitress, and how to survive in two jobs with only three hours of sleep for A WEEK STRAIGHT, but I learned an invaluable amount about skiing and the racing world.
I was a swimmer, yes. But I was a competitor and I love competition. I want to be enveloped in a world of races and winners and the attitude of champions. And don't get me wrong, skiing is a great sport, a great industry, and one I hope I'm not completely moved on from yet. But I have a little story for y'all...
We were hosting a training week for 14- and 15-year old racers in the speed events (Super G and Downhill fall under that umbrella), with a representative from the national body organizing the event. The kiddos went out in the morning, around 8:00 or 9:00 in the morning, to do an inspection of the course before doing a true training run. So, they inspect, ride the lift back up, and do a run before meeting up at the top again with the coaches in their training groups. At this point a call comes over the radio... "Are we doing another run?" to which the sweet, authoritative voice of the national representative responds, "I think we're coming in, the kids look really tired so we're going to take a break and come back out later"...
...
...
...
...
Are you KIDDING me?!?! A skier can only do a slow, sliding run down half a trail and then one "fast" one?! And that "fast" run was later reported to look sluggish and as if they were holding back. Who are these athletes?! I do believe they're strong. They have to be. But skiing for all of 10 minutes and GETTING A RIDE UP A CHAIRLIFT warrants a BREAK?! Give ME a break! I'm pretty sure my best days involved only 2 hours of practice, of which at least 1-1.5 hours were HARD sets that made me feel the blood and flesh of my lungs coming out through my trachea. Or on a good day when we did an hour of kick sets and had to be DRAGGED into the shower where we peed on ourselves and had to wait out the lactic acid flush before we could even be bothered to lift a hand to turn off the water.
I'm not saying swimmers are stronger, but I'd like to say, if this event is indicative of anything: swimmers are stronger. Sorry, world.
I can't make any statements on swimmers vs. nordic skiers, runners, soccer players, or anything like that, but alpine racers oughta step it up if you want any respect from my chiseled abs and lungs with the capacity of a harbor porpoise (or the human equivalent, you can give me that, right?).
Pressure's on, prove me wrong.
I actually know a lot of these people...
But now to the important stuff. I could tell you I learned a lot this winter, and while a lot of that was how to actually enjoy PBR (because it's not about the quality of beer, but the people who bought it for you and whose next round you'll be buying), how to waitress, and how to survive in two jobs with only three hours of sleep for A WEEK STRAIGHT, but I learned an invaluable amount about skiing and the racing world.
I was a swimmer, yes. But I was a competitor and I love competition. I want to be enveloped in a world of races and winners and the attitude of champions. And don't get me wrong, skiing is a great sport, a great industry, and one I hope I'm not completely moved on from yet. But I have a little story for y'all...
We were hosting a training week for 14- and 15-year old racers in the speed events (Super G and Downhill fall under that umbrella), with a representative from the national body organizing the event. The kiddos went out in the morning, around 8:00 or 9:00 in the morning, to do an inspection of the course before doing a true training run. So, they inspect, ride the lift back up, and do a run before meeting up at the top again with the coaches in their training groups. At this point a call comes over the radio... "Are we doing another run?" to which the sweet, authoritative voice of the national representative responds, "I think we're coming in, the kids look really tired so we're going to take a break and come back out later"...
...
...
...
...
Are you KIDDING me?!?! A skier can only do a slow, sliding run down half a trail and then one "fast" one?! And that "fast" run was later reported to look sluggish and as if they were holding back. Who are these athletes?! I do believe they're strong. They have to be. But skiing for all of 10 minutes and GETTING A RIDE UP A CHAIRLIFT warrants a BREAK?! Give ME a break! I'm pretty sure my best days involved only 2 hours of practice, of which at least 1-1.5 hours were HARD sets that made me feel the blood and flesh of my lungs coming out through my trachea. Or on a good day when we did an hour of kick sets and had to be DRAGGED into the shower where we peed on ourselves and had to wait out the lactic acid flush before we could even be bothered to lift a hand to turn off the water.
I'm not saying swimmers are stronger, but I'd like to say, if this event is indicative of anything: swimmers are stronger. Sorry, world.
I can't make any statements on swimmers vs. nordic skiers, runners, soccer players, or anything like that, but alpine racers oughta step it up if you want any respect from my chiseled abs and lungs with the capacity of a harbor porpoise (or the human equivalent, you can give me that, right?).
Pressure's on, prove me wrong.
swimmer.
also swimmer.
Obviously swimmers aren't cooler, don't let that part of the header confuse you. Skiers win that for sure.
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