Paige Schember: A Skier's Holiday Calendar

Life as a nordic skier is an awesome one. But I'm not the first to say that we are notorious for missing out on traditional holidays. Whether it's training, traveling, training, racing, resting, or.. training, holidays to us are the quick moments in between all the rush that we get with family and friends.

Personally, I'm not a huge fan of traditional holidays. Don't get me wrong, I love the chance to be close with people I don't see all that often, I absolutely LOVE giving gifts (like it's my favorite thing ever, you don't understand), and I definitely won't say no to some delicious food (hi, I'm Paige, I like to eat).

But the thing that gets me about holidays is the hype that surrounds them. There's so much pressure to have the MOST fun or do things the RIGHT way and follow every single tradition in the book, and if you don't, it's like you did your holiday completely wrong. Which makes it hard for athletes, because the demands of training and racing usually don't yield to drinking beers on a boat on the Fourth of July, sleeping in on Christmas morning, or staying up until past midnight to ring in the New Year.

So, for the sake of those who aren't skiers, I compiled a list of the holidays as interpreted by skiers.

And for the sake of skiers, feel free to commiserate (and celebrate!) with me.
_______________________________________________________________________________

Thanksgiving: "Merry-First-Day-of-Racing!" (SO EXCITED!)

Black Friday: "Thank-God-There-Isn't-A-Mall-In-West-Yellowstone Day"

Christmas: "Stock-Up-On-Training-Gear-And-Then-Go-Training Day" (cough.. BeFAST, Toko, Smith Optics, Bjorn Daehlie)

New Years Eve: "Well-This-Is-Nice-But-I-Have-To-Be-Asleep-By-Ten Eve"

New Years Day: "Another-Year-Another-Senior-Nationals Day"

Idaho Human Rights Day: (I had no idea this was a holiday but it is so..) "Exercise-My-Right-To-Exercise Day"

Groundhog Day: "I-Really-Hope-Winter-Keeps-Going Day"

Valentine's: "You're-Really-Actually-Dating-Your-Skis-Anyway Day"

Daylight Savings Starts: "Finally-It's-Not-Dark-During-Practice Day" (arguably the best day of the season)

St. Patrick's: "OMG-The-Season's-Over-What?! Day" (obviously the worst day of the season)

Easter: "Chocolate-Because-I'm-Not-In-Season Day"

Cinco de Mayo: "Time-To-Start-Training-Again Day"

Mother's Day: "Thank-Your-Mother-For-Her-Endless-Patience-and-Support Day"

Memorial Day: "Try-To-Remember-How-To-Rollerski-Without-Looking-Like-An-Idiot Day"

Father's Day: (see: Mother's Day)

Fourth of July: "This-Is-A-Free-Country-But-I-Have-To-Train-Tomorrow Day"

Labor Day: "It's-Officially-Fall-So-You-Better-Hope-You-Did-Enough-Work-This-Summer Day"

Columbus Day: "Get-Out-And-Declare-Those-Trails-Yours Day"

Halloween: "I-Don't-Need-This-Excuse-To-Wear-Spandex Day" (Also known as: "My-Coach-Scheduled-a-Time-Trial-Tomorrow-Morning Day")

Daylight Savings Ends: "Well-It's-Pitch-Dark-When-I-Train-Now-So-That's-Cool Day"

BONUS: Your Own Birthday: "Lolz-You-Just-Moved-Up-An-Age-Category Day"

_______________________________________________________________________________

Happy Thanksgiving everyone, for those of you headed out to West Yellowstone, find me on the trails and we can ski and hug and cry and chat and all that. For those of you at home, give your loved ones hugs, they're lucky to have you.

To round off this post: I've spent the past 5 years (holy crap that's a lot) in West Yellowstone, Montana for Thanksgiving. Here's to the memories, and to making many more!!