Alayna Checking in from the East Coast
This spring and summer has taken me a bit longer to recover from last season. As many know, I narrowly missed making an Olympic team; this really rocked my world. Not to say I was expecting to make the team, but I was clearly on my way to qualifying unitl I hit a series of unfortunate events. I fully unpack the details of this in a podcast episode of Extra Blue that you can listen to here.
Alayna getting ready to race the World Cup on home soil in Lake Placid this past March.
That being said, I ended the season unsure if I wanted to continue ski racing. I was heartbroken by the sport. I spent a lot of April trying to determine what I wanted from skiing and how I envisioned it playing a role in my future. I asked myself, “Am I done ski racing? Can I envision an entire winter where I don’t step up to a start line?” After much contemplation, I realized the answer was no.
However, another thought came with that answer. I didn’t want to keep ski racing the way I had been. I was feeling burnt out on chasing World Cup criteria, trying to rack up World Cup points or lower my FIS points. I wanted to race just to race for myself and to let it mean only that.
I also wanted to look at setting new goals. I’ve done over 100 World Cups now and I’ve seen a lot of improvements over the years. But to be honest, I feel a bit bored of doing the same intervals, same strength exercises, and traveling to the same places. So I started considering my options.
I landed on ski marathons. I love the American Birkebeiner race and have found success in this distance throughout my career. It’s an iconic race and one that carries the story of US cross country skiing. There are similar marathons all over the world that I want to experience, like the original Norwegian Birkebeiner and the Swedish Vasaloppet. Although, these are even longer races and follow the traditional style of ski racing in the classic technique. In fact, they are part of a series of classic marathons call the Ski Classics. There are elite waves in each of these competitive races, but in order to start with the elites, racers must be a member of a registered Ski Classic team.
All of that being said, I am excited to continue to represent Snø Racing during the first period of World Cups this season, periodically in races throughout the winter, and stay active in the midwest ski community. I have also recently joined a team based in Davos, Switzerland that will help me get to the start line of these Ski Classic races and provide race-day support.
Pursuing this series of marathons will bring about new challenges that excite me in ways that I feel like I’ve been missing recently. It will allow me to explore how countries all over the world approach ski racing and what it means in their culture. I hope to be able to learn from these experiences and bring my findings back to the US to share with the ski community we have here, so we can continue to grow and share the love of the sport.
Alayna has won the American Birkebeiner FIVE (!!) times. This photo is from this past winter.