I have had SO much fun going to Skyler’s races with her this year. There have been three in Utah and one in Wyoming. All but one we went alone – just the two of us. It has been quality time I will always cherish. She is so fun and she has come a long way this year being able to enjoy herself at these competitions.

Her race season exceeded all of our expectations (except for hers of course). There were many ups and downs and we are realizing that ski racing is just as much about handling disappointment as it is handling winning. She got better every single race, which was amazing to watch. Her best race by far was in Park City this year where her brother and Sy (Liam’s friend) got to watch and congratulate her. It was one of the highlights of my year.

The championships were in Jackson this year. Day 1 was the Super G training run, which she crushed. Beat all her teammates except for a couple and looked SO good on the course! Day 2 was the Super G comp and she came out of the gate like a bat out of hell! She was flying. And then she got thrown into the backseat, fought so hard to stay upright, even turned her skis to make the turn before her legs just couldn’t hold her anymore. She went down, spun out of the course, was super disappointed but not hurt.

Day 3 was GS. I was so nervous. Just didn’t want her to fall as I worried that would crush her confidence. I also didn’t want her to hold back since she had fallen the day before. And she didn’t! She impressed the hell out of all of us – coaches included – and put together an amazing run. Beat all her teammates and ended up 11th out of 69 girls!

Day 4 was terrible conditions. We literally walked through slush to get to the course. She did not ski her best and yet, no one really did. Unless you got to go towards the front, the snow conditions were so sloppy it made it almost impossible to get any speed.

All in all, she was proud of herself, I was impressed by her tenacity and we had a great time. I am so excited for next season!!