Dear . . .

Dear Bode Miller,

I can not explain how much I aspire to be as good at alpine skiing as you. You literally have no fear hurling down a course like Birds of Prey. It is honestly incredible.

Watching you ski is probably one of the most motivating things you can do. It helps me to get aggressive during training and the night before a race. I especially like to watch the run from 2003 when you finish a downhill race on one ski. It reminds me to never give up in a course no matter how big the mistake I've made is.

image courtesy of www.skinet.com

This run also reminds me that no one is perfect. One of the main reasons you're my favorite world cup racer is because you make mistakes and still make it on the podium. If I were to watch Mikaela Shiffrin ski slalom as my motivation it wouldn't work because I know I can't ski slalom that cleanly yet. It just puts me down. However, when I watch you ski I feel like we have a similar style of skiing and the mistakes I make somewhat resemble yours (your mistakes of course being on much more difficult course and hill).

I also admire how you stood up to the US Ski Team. Haha I have to be careful here because I eventually want to be part of that team but I thought it was pretty cool. As I get older I realize just how political ski racing is and I think it was a bold move for you to train on your own.

You also have some pretty gnarly crashes and surprisingly got out of most of them alright. For example, that race when you cut a gash into your calf. I mean, that's pretty f****** awesome. Like I don't know how you managed to cut yourself with your ski and recover so quickly but it was pretty bad a**. Like, I've been injured once before and it's so hard to motivate yourself after that. I think it's pretty awesome how you kept going through all your years of ski racing.

I'm sad to see you retiring from the sport though. I mean, I can understand why. It's hard to constantly be getting beat up by ruts and steep pitches. Falling only gets harder on your body. But, although not possible I wish you would never retire. That way I'll have endless motivational video for me to watch :)

I hope my blog reminds you of a younger you. Although I'm a girl I hope that this blog takes you back to your U16 (J4/J3 back then) years. I hope you'll come back to read my blog and see as I progress through the world of ski racing as you did.

Thanks for reading my blog,
Max