Seeley Has Hills

 What? The St. Olaf Nordic Team is alive, and even writing a blog post? Yes. Yes, we are, and apologies from this senior skier for the dearth of blogs. To whet your appetite for an update on the whooooole racing season up to Nationals which are happening this week, here are the sage words of Mitchell and Christopher on the Seeley Hills Classic, a race from the very beginning of the season:

Mitchell: To the dismay of the St. Olaf Nordic Team, the MN College Champs were cancelled due to mildly uninhabitable weather. But with some quick scrambling, Chris, Rebecca, Leif, and Mitchell were able to scrape together an exciting weekend of racing. Special thanks to Leif, who channeled his inner soccer mom to shuttle us to Stone Lake, WI in his stylish minivan. Also thanks to the Prokosch family for generously providing us with lodging (14 hours before we arrived) and food (you may want to pick up some more Kodiak Powercake mix). Saturday morning greeted us with cloudy skies and eye-paralyzing cold, but that didn't stop a few hundred hardy skiers from racing the mightily prestigious Seeley Classic. The St. Olaf skiers did well in the 18k classic race, with Leif, Mitchell, and Chris going 3, 6, and 7, and Rebecca placing 4th in her age group in only her second ski race ever!
Kodiak cakes.
Rebecca - after her second race ever!
Christopher: Leif and Christopher braved the lead pack with Mitchell hanging back to pounce later...(foreshadowing). The time to say goodbye for Christopher and Leif came at kilometer 14 when Christopher realized that he was going to die. Leif gracefully glided away with two other fast old guys while Christopher attempted to drag, stumble, scramble his body for the last 4 kilometers. And yes, you guessed it, this is the part where Mitchell came by and left Christopher in the dust. Despite barely hearing anything over the sound of his own ragged breathing, Christopher picked up on Mitchell's cheery compliments, that award-winning magazine smile, and his quite obvious lack of death. Luckily a combination of downhills and gravity can help even the most completely dead person (Princess Bride, anyone?) reach the finish line. Leif had an arm-biter of a finish and despite leading the final 4 kilometers, got passed up by the old men right at the end. In the wise words of Coach Brochman, "Don't lead the old guys."
Christopher and Leif after finishing.
That award-winning magazine smile in action.
Mitchell: A dozen cookies, fifteen doughnut holes, four cups of soup, eight GU shots, and thirty Kodiak pancakes later, we headed back to the hill with excitement building for next weekend's big races at Telemark!
Mitchell, Christopher, and Leif with their awards.

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