SPORTS: May 21, 2007 Issue

LESSONS ON THE SKI TRAILS

NAME REMOVED BY REQUEST

February 1995. New Hampshire state championships, cross-country skiing.

After four miles of racing neck-and-neck through forested hills and wind-swept ravines, my rival and I entered the final homestretch. She sped ahead on the last turn. I faltered. And then it was over. Three irretrievable seconds would forever stand between me and the high-school title. I kneeled in the snow, hot tears flowing down my numb cheeks.

That was not the last, nor the hardest, disappointment of my ski career. Though I eventually became one of the top-ranked female skiers in the United States, there were many trials along the way. But they brought a sweet reward: I came to see better what Mary Baker Eddy must have meant by her words "O make me glad for every scalding tear" and "God is good, and loss is gain" (Christian Science Hymnal, No. 207).

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