Using the Winter Olympics as the stage for one of the best performances of your career would make most any athlete happy and proud, and for the most part, those were the emotions that registered with Anchorage's James Southam on Sunday.
After racing with the lead pack on and off for more than half of the men's 50-kilometer cross-country race at Whistler Olympic Park in British Columbia, Southam turned in a 28th-place finish, his best Olympic effort in five races spanning two Olympics.
"It was good. It was almost amazing," Southam said in a phone interview after his marathon journey of 2 hours, 10 minutes, 8.3 seconds. "(But) there's kind of one decision running through my head that I might have taken back."
Southam, a 31-year-old who trains with the Alaska Pacific University nordic program, second-guessed his decision to switch skis at the 30-kilometer mark of the race.
It was a swap he believed he had to make -- he had switched skis at 20 kilometers and quickly realized the new pair wasn't as fast as the old pair. He wished, in retrospect, that he'd waited another five kilometers before stopping to make the change.
"It was just the timing of it," Southam said. "I just couldn't quite catch up to the pack. There were six or seven of us who switched at the same time, and only one of us got back to the main group."
There's no telling if waiting a few more kilometers would have made a difference in terms of regaining contact with a sizable lead pack. But given the race Southam was having -- hanging with a pack filled with Olympic medal-winners, sometimes in the top five, often just a handful of seconds behind the leader -- he couldn't help but wonder.
"Woulda coulda shoulda," he said.
Southam wound up 4:32.8 off the winning pace set by Norway's Petter Northug, who collected his fourth medal of the Games. Northug won a five-man duel that ended with just 1.6 seconds separating the top five finishers.
Northug captured his second gold of the Games in 2:05:35.5. Axel Teichmann of Germany finished three-tenths of a second later to claim silver and Johan Olsson of Sweden was one second back to take bronze.
Southam was the only American finisher in a race that started with 55 racers and finished with 48.
He'll ride Sunday's encouraging performances into a pair of World Cup races in Finland and Norway, an end-of-the-season bonus earned by virtue of his showing at the Olympics, which also included a 34th-place finish in the 30-K pursuit.
He'll race another pursuit Saturday in Lahti, Finland, and then head to Oslo for a 50-K race -- where his experience Sunday may prove beneficial, because once again he'll have the option of changing skis during the race.
With the exception of the pursuit, which combines the classic and freestyle techniques and therefore requires a change of equipment halfway through, the concept of swapping skis during a race is a relatively new one.
Southam said it was used at last season's World Championships, and it's an option available only in the sport's two longest races -- the men's 50-K and the women's 30-K. The swaps can happen anytime the race comes through the stadium area, although each skier is limited to three changes.
"It's definitely interesting," Southam said. "It's something a lot of people are talking about. It adds another tactical element to the race."
It also increases the workload of each team's support staff -- and adds a bit of chaos to the race trails, Anchorage skier Holly Brooks said Saturday after her first experience with the new twist.
"Waxers are working constantly and coaches are on the course trying to communicate with you: 'We think they're gonna have better kick and better glide, so we suggest the next time you pull over and change them.' There's also a whole bunch of people out there with (spare) poles and people giving feeds, so it's a really staff-intensive atmosphere out there."
Brooks said some like the idea and others are unhappy about it.
"It makes it a whole new ballgame," she said. "Some of the traditionalists don't like it -- if you have good skis, you have good skis, and if you don't, you tough it out for the rest of the 28-K."
Southam said he liked the skis he started with on Sunday and switched to a new pair simply because after 20 kilometers, he thought a fresh pair would be useful on a course made hard and fast by the application of salt.
"When I switched them, I found out they weren't quite as good, and I wanted to get back on the other skis as soon as possible," he said. "After the first switch, I was able to get back up with the (lead) group. After the second, I just couldn't quite get it done.
"If I had waited one more lap, who knows?"
Even so, there was a lot for Southam to be happy about.
"It's a lot more fun up there (with the leaders)," he said. "I didn't feel like I was stressing when I was up there -- I was skiing relaxed. It wasn't like I was fighting to get up there. Just to be skiing comfortably with those guys definitely builds confidence.