“You were going to leave without kissing me!” my wife said with a cheerfully sarcastic smile as she stood on the final step of our entryway stairs yesterday.

“You can kiss me on March 9 …after the Ski North Ultra,” I joked before smooching her on the lips and heading out for an afternoon ski.

This week, I’m thankful for a few things: 1) my wife, 2) good health and 3) skiing.

I’ll explain in reverse order.

My own race season has gotten off to a great start. I captured back-to-back 15k mass start victories at Snow Mountain Ranch, winning the season-opening skate race on Jan. 5 and the classic event last Saturday. The skate race was a fun battle; I made a move on the first major climb to split up the pack, but was reeled in by former UNH skier Andrew Huck and local legend and CU alumnus Dan Weinberger during the undulating upper trails.

They both passed me on the downhill back-half of the course, but I kept Huck, the leader, in sight going into lap two. Using a steady V2 on the gradual climb to open the second 7.5k lap, I pulled up to Huck and then passed again on the steeper ascent that followed. Knowing that the downhill would not likely go well for me, I went berserk on the flat stretch on top and skated as hard as I could over the crest of every downhill. Somehow, I got away for a 15-second win.

The classic race was destined to present some different challenges. We received fresh snow overnight and in the morning — the worst recipe for a double-pole guy like me. At 9,000 feet, snow falling at 5-degrees is destined to be slow. Plus, because it fell so late, it was likely that the surface would not be very firm — even though the Grand Nordic Race Series race directors do an excellent job with course prep. Given the difficulty of the terrain — particularly the grueling climb on the far end of the course, the DP skis might not have been the best choice on even the fastest of spring days.

But I figured, ‘ah, what the heck….let’s go for it.” My logic was: 1) this might work, 2) it will be a great workout and test even if it doesn’t.

I went full gas from the start, redlining up the three major climbs, but pulled away in the process. I was able to gather my breath on the top of the course, but I still felt kind of crappy in general on the first lap. On the second lap, I mentally segmented the remaining work, focusing on the ‘races within the race’, i.e. each ‘A’ climb. That helped, but the punchy snow outside the tracks was taking a toll on my shoulders, poling rhythm and overall psyche.

I stuck with it and was fortunate to walk away with the win, which felt really great. For those who like these kinds of details: I used my coldest grind Atomic DP skis with just one layer of Start graphite. And the glide was pretty good, I thought. Could have done more, but I’m kind of trying to set my skis up for success later in the year, too (while conserving my most expensive waxes).

As was the case in week 1, I enjoyed conversing with several members of the Nordic community afterwards. I chatted a bit with Josh Smullin and his dad, who was in town from Bend and did the race. He told me Mt. Bachelor has a ton of snow so far this year!

Bottom line: I’m thankful for skiing.

Ski races — whether you win or lose or brake a pole — are a really great time. I love scoping out the ski calendar. I enjoy waking up early, filling my coffee, starting the car, loading up the stuff and scraping skis. I like listening to Joe Rogan podcasts while driving across the barren hills of Kremmling, alternating precious brain space between debates on whether we landed on the moon or not with pacing strategy and visualizations of the impending athletic assignment.

I love the sense of accomplishment, the feeling of cooling down with no agenda after a hard effort, the warm food and warmer conversations, the awards podiums and the raffle prizes. I even have learned to embrace the anticipation during the week and try to not stress over choosing skis and waxes — but remember how grateful I should be just to have the different choices.

In some ways, weekly races center my body, too. I innately take easy days easier and think about how much volume I can handle overall. My goals this year are for late February, so I’ve been stacking significant hours since Thanksgiving. It’s was consistently 21 through the end of November and December, with 26 and 23 hour weeks in each of the first two race weeks. Even though I’ve been heading out for long skis the night before, I’ve honestly felt strong at these events.

But I know that health is not something to take for granted.

So that’s the other thing I’m thankful for. I pray for it each day. And while I’m selfishly hoping to avoid the flu, a cough, or something that could drastically alter my racing ambitions, I’m well aware that most peoples’ health maladies are far more serious. Perspective.

I won’t wax and wane long here, but for the athletes, I’ll say this: stay disciplined during this time of year. Drink water, go to bed at 9:30 or 10, don’t party on the weekends, etc. This is a short time — a small window of opportunity — to capitalize on the year of hard work we’ve invested.

Finally, I’m thankful for my wife.

She deserves the most space in this column. Christie is the one who supports me and allows me to train twice a day, squeeze in work and put up content for Seder-Skier.com. I know I couldn’t get away without kissing her for a week much less an entire race season. Then again, why would I want to?

Kissing my Bride might put me at risk for a cold, but it will always be worth it.

Some other race reports!

• Congrats to Hugo Lapalus and Mika Vermuelen, who beat the Seder-Skier Podcast curse by reaching the Tour de Ski podium.
• On that note, special shout out to Will Bentley and Nina Schamberger as well. Both had excellent performances at U.S. Senior Nationals.
• Finally, Brian Gregg, David Joda and Matt Liebsch — all past show guests — swept the podium at the Seeley Hills Classic on Saturday.

Our very own correspondent, Taco Bell Guy, was also in the race, and provided this report:

The course was 7 x 5k laps. Totaled about 32.5K. Conditions were manmade snow, reasonably firm tracks, with sugary herringbone hills. 14 degrees held steady throughout. No wind.  Klister was rocking, I had bomber kick until the end, and great glide on my klister. I think people on hardwax got it stripped off during the race. I saw a couple Canadiens double poling on skate skis, and even though the only times I saw the lead 3 they were double poling, But race pictures reveal they were on classic skis. 4th man double poled the whole thing. 

Ski News

It’s Les Rousses World Cup week! I’ll be discussing most of my ‘takes’ and storylines for the week in today’s Seder-Skier Podcast episode, which will be up at 3 p.m. MST.

The World Famous Seder-Skier Podcast

Once again, we’ve got a full week of great shows on tap!

***28,608 streams and counting!

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-seder-skier-podcast/id1534200759

Monday: APU Skier Garrett Butts

Tuesday: Les Rousses preview show

Wednesday: French national team coach Alexandre Pouyé

Thursday: French World Cup star Flora Dolci