Well, hello.

The week that was (for me)

There was maybe a little depression.

I was adding up my training hours from the start of the year to now and realized the last 10-12 weeks hasn’t been as high volume as I thought.

Now, maybe that doesn’t really matter.

Or, maybe it does.

I’ve been running more, biking a little, and rollerskiing zero. For now.

Since June 3 marked my last day of skiing, I haven’t felt the rush to start pounding pavement. Forgive me! Once I start skiing, I get really into it. Thus, I don’t want to reach peak excitement on Aug. 1.

I don’t know. Again, maybe that doesn’t really matter. Maybe it matters a ton. I guess I’ll find out in February or March. That’s still a long way away.

For now, I’m really enjoying just pretending to be a trail runner. I’ve been trying to scout out some doable dayventures, but work and dadding has gotten in the way a little bit. Thankfully, I have a wonderful wife who understands my plight and helps me with meaningful late-afternoon improvisation.

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I tried running to the Iron Mike mine of Halfmoon Rd recently, but wasn’t adequately prepared, so the out and back turned into more of a recon mission. I’m guessing I’ll return to the site, roughly 8 miles from my house, in like 20 years. The training goals before leaving for MN at the end of the month: run up a few 14ers, train a crap-ton, lift some weights….

…start rollerskiing.

Preposterous statement nominee?

An individual on the ‘What’s happening in Leadville/Lake County’ Facebook page recently posted looking for help for the premiere of a documentary on the Leadville 100. As you can imagine, the comments section blew up.

It was the usual stuff.

I.e. an annoying influx of endurance athletes who apparently don’t watch where they’re going riding their bikes, extra trash, noisy start lines, crowded streets —even empty Safeway shelves.

One individual replied, “race brings almost nothing to the local economy.”

Now, somehow, that doesn’t jive with the worldview based on empty Safeway shelves, but, I’ll let this internal contradiction slide for now. I think we can say this man’s sentence is at least PST nominee-worthy.

A 2022 Outside story cited a recent Colorado Mountain College study which determined the race series brings in $15 million annually to the local community. In 2002, the race directors established a foundation which gives $1,000 to every single graduating senior at Lake County High School. That right there proves this guy to be ridiculous, right?

The Outside article wasn’t even some Life Time-provided press release or unashamedly positive propaganda piece, either. For instance, it mentions what would perhaps be my chief complaint with the series — a change in the race’s ‘atmosphere’ since Life Time took over. I won’t expound on that here.

I think it’s crazy that people would complain about this type of event coming to Leadville. I have more opinions. Wait for the podcast.

Petter Northug gets a statue

On Saturday, Petter Northug arrived via helicopter — yes, you heard that right — to his hometown of Framverran, where over 2,000 were gathered to see the unveiling of a statue of the skier made by Tore Bjørn Skjølsvik. The NOK 1 million (roughly $92,000) portrayal of arguably one of the best skiers of all-time was unveiled by the skiers’ mom to her son.

“And it was special that it ended up here, in my hometown; there are a lot of emotions about it,” the double-Olympic champion said. “A lot of hard work has been left here, and this is where dreams were made. It feels good to be back here.”

I don’t know about you, but when I read this, my first thought was, “WHAT?! A statue?!”

I started racking my brain to think of other athletes with statues. The only 30-something-year-old I could distinctly remember was Michael Jordan. Even Jordan only got his after retiring, though. Well, sort of retiring…Bulls owner Jerry Reinsdorf unveiled Jordan’s outside the United Center in November 1994 during 23’s brief retirement from the NBA. 

Then I realized: this is such a Petter Northug thing.

First of all, like Jordan, Northug is sort of in a perpetually mysterious state of quasi-retirement.

{Even now, you know MJ is probably putting up like 300 shots every morning, just in case he gets sick of watching how badly NBA guards play defense and decides he ought to come back and show the young whipper-snappers a thing or two.}

Similarly, Northug is testing the Ski Classics waters, hopping in random national sprint races and toying with the idea of a comeback for the 2025 World Championships.

The Jordan comparisons are also pretty relevant when you line-up each athletes’ accomplishments side-by-side. While I would argue that Northug has been far surpassed by Johannes Klaebo in the ‘GOAT’ discussion at this point, Northug still is statistically the most accomplished World Championship skier. Sort of like Jordan — he learned to win the big one…and then kept doing it.

Further, Northug was (and continues to be) the sport’s preeminent lightning rod.

“He (Petter Northug) created an artificially large interest in cross-country skiing and will remain as the most important person for the sport ever,” said TV2’s Ernst Lersveen, the main guy behind ensuring the statue idea became a reality. “A statue stands forever and it is old-fashioned to erect them only when people die. Those who get a statue must experience it.”

Langrenn reported that Lervseen was working intensively on the project since he retired form the channel after the 2023 World Ski Championships.

Lersveen considered several options for the statue’s location. Before landing on Northug’s home village, apparently “Northug flat” in Holmenkollen was in the running.

This is where I draw the line. The only statues that belong in Holmenkollen are for guys like Sondre Norheim. Or perhaps Klaebo, but only once it’s all well-said and done. Like, I think Klaebo has to live to be 95 if he wants to witness his Holmenkollen statue unveiling.

One reason I think statues for living athletes should be at the very least, rare, if not altogether non-existent is because of the already highly-self-centered state of sports.

Athletes already think they’re gods. It’s like if Aaron would have made a golden calf for the golden calf. IDK, maybe that’s the wrong analogy, but I feel like we’re living in an Exodus 32 moment.

Even without statues, athletes are living in an aggrandizing counter-reality, perpetuated by the social media-driven make-believe world of self-worship. Stars feed off a constant stream of idolization and pedastalization, wherein their Instagram posts — (just the posts!) — could be worth more money than you or I make in two years.

I shutter to think what the forerunners of sport — the guys who believed athletics’ transcendent values depended upon enthusiasts driven towards excellence “for the sake of the sport…not the hot dog trade” — would think if they came down from Mt. Sinai now. Norheim would probably shatter his wooden planks against a metal wax bench!

Northug, to his credit, felt having a statue made of himself was indeed bit awkward. When he found out about the project last year, he compared it to going to your own funeral (according to the Norwegian-to-English translation), something especially ironic considering his comeback was at that time in full-steam ahead mode…(I mean, it kind of still is….).

His mixed feelings are shared by me. Does he deserve a statue? Part of me thinks he doesn’t. First, he’s too young. Second, he threw away the back half of his career. Third, Klaebo is better.

Then again, it’s his hometown. Honestly, if Ransack Junction threw up a statue of Ole Krebsbach because the aforementioned fictional musician went onto a 10-year career in the Minnesota Orchestra, I think a statue would be appropriate. Heck, it the statue was of Krebsbach nailing a free throw to win the 1965 section championship, that’s fine, too. Ransack Junction can memorialize its heroes however it wants. In small towns it doesn’t take much to get a little recognition. And using that line of reasoning, Framverran probably should have made a Northug statue 15 years ago.

Alas, I digress. The debate over whether Northug is deserving of a statue or not is probably good podcast material. For now, let’s just agree on one thing: that it already happened feels fitting.

What do you think? Which skiers deserve a statue, if any? Why? If there was a hall of fame in Nordic skiing, who would be in it?

Let me know – sederskier@gmail.com