Thanks for a great opportunity

"What a great opportunity."

This phrase I heard in college almost daily from Phil Lundin, the head cross-country and track coach for St. Olaf College. Each day's workout was an opportunity to improve: an opportunity to make our legs faster, our lungs fitter, our minds tougher, and our team stronger. Every race was simply an opportunity to display the work that we'd put into running and an opportunity to compete for a team bigger than the individuals that formed it. Coach Lundin never made a show about any race being bigger than another - no pre-race pep talks, no fanfare. Usually just a simple suggestion that each race was a great opportunity, just like the day before it and the day after.

With Coaches Phil and Griff after our team won the 2013 NCAA Championship in Cross-Country running.

Last Friday I traveled to a winter wonderland in Northern Italy to join the US contingent racing at the IBU Open European Championships in Ridnaun. I'm very thankful for this opportunity to race for my country and to race against some of the best biathletes in the world. Because there is no World Cup biathlon this week, the Open European Championships is the premier biathlon event this week, and many of the World Cup athletes will be entering these races as a final tune-up before the Olympics.

I'm very thankful to the many who made it possible for me to attend these races. First, I'm thankful to US Biathlon for giving me the opportunity to compete in Europe. Second, THANK YOU to those families and individuals who have supported my travel and racing financially - it's because of you're generosity that I'm able to have this racing opportunity. Thank you to those families and individuals who have supported me by letting me stay at their homes or cabins for training. I've been really struck by the generous support I've received from so many, from both my community and beyond. You make my pursuit of biathlon possible and are a part of this journey, wherever it goes, and inspire me to do my part to support future athletes and show generosity. I hope I can make you proud.

Thank you to Higher Power Training for hosting a successful fundraiser workout for me in December, and thank you to all of those who attended. Thanks to Farm to Feet socks for donating high performance socks for door prizes at the event, and to Calypso for donating lemonade and Breadsmith for donating bread. Thank you to all of those who have bought a T-shirt. If you didn't get a chance to buy a T-shirt but would like one, anyone can get one. Just send me an email and make a donation of $25 or more to the Loppet Foundation Athlete Development Fund (click HERE) with "Jake Brown" in the "Tribute" box, and we'll get one sent your way. A big thank you to Finn Sisu ski store and Pioneer Midwest for funding the T-shirts.

Finally, thank you to my sponsors. The Loppet Foundation and InStore Display Design help me to cover biathlon expenses. Salomon outfits me with some fast S-Lab Carbon skis, S-Lab Carbon boots, and S-Lab Carbon poles as well as provides race service. Farm to Feet socks keep my toes toasty. Finn Sisu ski store has been in my corner since I started racing and helps keep my hands from freezing with fresh Yoko windstopper gloves. Thanks also to my parents, who are my biggest sponsors, for supporting, guiding, and encouraging me since day one.

Maybe I'll make it to the World Cup and Olympic stages in biathlon, and maybe I won't. But I won't wait until then to thank those who are making this journey possible. I can't do this on my own - it takes more than even the most driven athletes to make success possible. It takes a village, one that deserves to be thanked again and again. Thank you to my village. I'm proud to represent you.

The December fundraiser event at Higher Power Training in Eden Prairie, MN kicked off with Boy Scouts from the Twin Cities metro area getting a start on their personal fitness merit badge.

Thanks to all who attended the fundraiser event at Higher Power Training in Eden Prairie, MN and to Farm to Feet socks, Calypso lemonade, Designs for Health supplements, and Breadsmith bread for helping make it a success!

T-shirts on display at Higher Power Training as athletes sign up for the Farm to Feet sock giveaway. The socks are gone but there are still plenty of T-shirts available! If you'd like to order one, please send me an email and make a donation of $25 or more to the Loppet Foundation Athlete Development Fund (click HERE) with "Jake Brown" in the "Tribute" box and we'll get one sent your way.

Back to Italy. This area is spectacular, beautiful, and stunning (yes, all three words were necessary). Rolling bucolic terrain and farmland is surrounded by steep, snowy spires and pine-covered cliffs, through which the sun illuminates the valley. Stone walls enclose narrow roads just wide enough for one biathlon-team van but somehow two can "safely" squeeze past head-on at 50 mph. The stone walls, the biathlon vans, the pines, and the farmhouses- anything that is left outside and has a semi-flat surface- is covered with a 3-foot pillow of snow. These pillows are continuing to grow each day as even more snow is falling. Crazy.

It's in places like this, where the beauty of nature is so mindboggling, that I'm struck with the awesomeness of God and his creation. How he made it all, and how he instilled in us an appreciation for the beauty of it, it kind of breaks me down. Like in a good way. I know I'm a short guy, but the expansive beauty of God's creation makes me feel even smaller. And as such a small, seemingly insignificant part of creation, God still loves me. That is crazy. In a good way.

It's also in places like this that I get a little sad about the future of our sport, and really sad about the future of our planet. I'm not going to pretend that I'm an expert climate scientist, but for a second set aside the meteorology of hurricanes, the chemistry of algal blooms and ecological consequences of disrupting trophic levels. What kind of stewards are we of God's creation if we continue to trash it, threatening the habitats of all species (including many of our own), polluting it to the point that we have dead waters, trash-laden seas, and diseased weather patterns that behave in chaos and extreme variability. As skiers we have our eyes and ears glued to snow forecasts and weather patterns, and what do we see? Record years of precipitation are followed by record droughts, record highs by record lows, with natural disasters happening at irrational frequencies, causing not just ecological, but also personal and societal damages. Are we going to keep sitting around arguing whether or not global warming is a hoax or a political agenda? Seriously? Does it even matter? Don't we care about protecting God's creation, about keeping alive the species and beautiful places he's created, and minimizing future financial and economic damages due to pollution and extreme weather events? Or are we the kid who eats the marshmallow now (when we're told if we wait we'll get two later) and choose immediate economic gain at the expense of future costs, including the cost of lives of animals and humans just because we don't know them personally? We have an opportunity to protect this incredible planet by making our opinions heard and also through daily action and choices. It's a great opportunity.

"Great moments are born from great opportunity" - that's the opening line from Herb Brooks' locker room speech before the 1980 US Hockey team faced the Soviets, made famous by the greatest movie of all time, Miracle. Going up against the Soviet professionals and 4-time defending gold medalists, the group of amateur (mostly college) US players were underdogs at best. The task ahead of them, while challenging, was certainly one of great opportunity; no one thought they could win, so they had nothing to lose.

We often can't control which opportunities we get and which we do not. I could have easily gone unselected for the Open European Championships. Had the selectors put more weight on the Valcartier Nor-Am than the Mt. Itasca Trails I wouldn't have been selected. I've been given an opportunity and am going to go out there and fight for some great moments. I might not get them, but that doesn't mean I won't give my best at every turn. Sometimes despite great opportunity, things go awry. Sickness, equipment problems, an unexpected crash - these things can all foil an opportunity. It's frustrating, and frankly it sucks. Especially when it's beyond your control. We can't always choose what happens, but we can choose how to respond. Sten Fjeldheim, the coach at NMU, would tell us "if you break a pole, be the best skier with one pole." We see this a lot from Jessie Diggins, who displays the spirit of never-give-up in cross-country ski racing (especially with one pole!). A lot of people might say, oh, well that's just Jessie's personality or it only works because she is so talented but I think that more of us can do better to display this type of resilience, both on and off the ski tracks. If, during Wednesday's Individual, I were to miss my first five targets - and it wouldn't be nearly the first time that's happened - I'm still going to give the last 15km and three shooting stages my best effort, because I can't expect to improve if I don't give my best at every opportunity.

We can all wish for a 1980 Miracle-like, once-in-a-lifetime "great opportunity" or for a Vikings Super Bowl victory. Both of those things may or may not happen. We don't know, and we shouldn't live life just waiting in hope that they will happen without some serious work (signing Diggs and Thielen to long term deals might help for the latter). I might get a chance to race on the World Cup one day, and I might not. I'm not just going to sit around to see what the answer will be. What I can do is respond to each day with Phil Lundin's mantra "what a great opportunity" and go out and try to be the best biathlete I can be, even if I'm skiing with one pole.

This week at the Open European Championships I have my best opportunity in biathlon yet. I'm really thankful for it. I've been in my best biathlon form to date: I'm healthy, I've felt strong in my training, and I have a good shooting mentality. To boot, the competition is located in a beautiful corner of the world. I have nothing to loose - what a great opportunity.

I'll upload pictures from Italy soon! So far Wifi here is not up to speed and I can't upload any pictures. But check out Jakob Ellingson's photos on Flickr HERE to get an idea for what it's like in the South Tirol!

1/25 Update

When I arrived in Italy I joined the US team from IBU Cups 4 and 5 who were finishing up a training camp in Toblach/Dobiacco (The South Tirol in northern Italy is bilingual - Toblach is the German name and Dobiacco the Italian name).

The Dolomites surrounding Toblach speak for themselves

The Nordic venue in Toblach. Yes, the ski trail goes over the top of the chalet. Gotta love Europe.

Norwegian biathlon fans on their way to the train station in Toblach. Not a bad way to winter vacation: XC ski in the AM in Toblach, then watch the biathlon World Cup in Antholz the next town over.

A stop on our short journey (1.5 hour van drive) from Toblach to Ridnaun

The biathlon venue in Ridnaun. Every day I'm shocked by the beauty of this place.

Pillows of snow and the sunrise outside of the farmhouse we call home in Ridnaun. After three years without good snow, Ridnaun has enough to share and then some.

Photos below by Jakob Ellingson:

Looking ahead to the next opportunity!