To my delight, I have good news to divulge- I had a great National Championships! The weather did not cooperate; there were blizzards blowing, snowflakes accumulating, and volcano erupting, but I skied well despite Mother Nature’s assault on Alaska. After one day of DH training, two days of free skiing because racing was out of the question, and a failed attempt at SG due to fog, we finally squeezed in the National DH race. The conditions were not perfect, but our luck prevailed and the men and women finished their races in the nick of time; ash began to fall right as the last boys made their way down the track. Bad weather and all, it was still my lucky day- I won the DH, and I am thrilled. It was a flowing, mistake- free run, but I would be lying if I said I wasn’t surprised when I came through the finish line and saw number one on the board. I ran fourth, so, I did not initially celebrate, but as racers came down and my time held, it sunk in that I just might get another national title. When it was certain that I had in fact won the adjective that came to mind was relief. I know that I am a good ski racer and that I have the ability to be one of the best, but after a rocky season it was such a fabulous confidence boost. Validation, I have come to find, is no small thing. What really stuck out about the run to me was how relaxed I was. I was still aggressive and pushed like crazy out the of the start gate, but, especially since the snow was soft, I focused on easy pressure and carrying speed all the way down the mountain. Obviously, it worked well for me. It was so awesome that Julia (Mancuso) and Lindsey (Vonn) came to the races. So many, including me, appreciated their attendance; they make it the real deal. After winning World Cup globes and Olympic gold medals, National Championships, I would guess, lose some of their allure. However, after fighting the flu, Jules managed wins in the GS and Combined and after a huge mistake in the DH Lindsey redeemed herself the next day by locking up the SL title.

Having successful races at Nationals is just the cherry on top of the most fun race of the year. Everyone you haven’t seen since November is there and the enthusiasm is so contagious that it is almost tangible. It is the only FIS race where Americans of all levels get to compete together. I love the cohesion of it all. That there is a World Cup winner in the same race as an Eastern Cup or MidAm winner is so gratifying to witness because it spans such a wider spectrum than most races. The ski racing community is not very large and great fun abounds when all the best racers in the country are rounded up for an end of the year culmination. I had the pleasure of catching up with dear, old friends and making hilarious new ones. It also was so great to have my parents there. They stayed with my Mother’s cousins that live in Anchorage so I had the good fortune of having quite a cheering section! Nationals is also a race where it is very easy to reflect on your career. I listened to some girls commenting on how the women of 1984 were the oldest on the start sheet. (Yes, I am an 84′ birth year.) It honestly seems like it was yesterday that I was 15 years old at my first Nationals and overheard the elite racers of that time lamenting about how young 84’s were! Everything is full circle which, as I age, I appreciate more and more. There is something comforting about realizing that you weren’t the first nor the last to have similar feelings. I am as astonished now, at 24, as I was at ten by how exhilarating skiing is, that has not changed, but, after experiencing so much and living so fully I am sometimes surprised by all that I have learned along the way.

Thank you so much for allowing me to share a little part of my life with you. The pleasure has been mine. I still have some more races this season, but I will be blogging less frequently. Take a look every so often, I plan on updating about once a month during the off season. As you all know though, snow flurries and ski season will be back here before we know it so savor the warmth and sun!

Lastly, if you find that our paths cross, please say hello. I enjoy meeting fellow ski enthusiasts and would love to meet you.

Until next time,

Kaylin

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 1st, 2009 at 8:14 am and is filed under kaylinrichardson. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.