Luckily we got to wrap up this season in one of the more beautiful ski destinations around- Sun Valley, ID for a 4 race series that included SuperTour Finals and US Distance Nationals. I think the last time I raced in Sun Valley I was a senior in high school, so it was super sweet to be back in the valley of sun and to see some of my western friends and even have some of my family out on the trails cheering me along.
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| After panos, selfies might be my favorite- #GRPSki after another awesome training ski in SV |
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| Perfect skiing up at Galena Lodge with Kait, Nick, and Emily |
And let's just say, I really needed the cheers this time! During my travel day from Europe, I finally succumbed to the OPA Cup Plague, aka a nasty cold that went through the ranks of almost every skier from Stratton and APU on our OPA trip. Luckily I didn't get too sick and the constant Vitamin D from the warm Idaho sun quickly had me back on my feet. I was still feeling worn out for the 10k classic day though, and had to make the call to skip it and spend the day cheering on teammates and friends instead.
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| GRP ladies loving the sunshine and mountains on the 10k classic day- photo from Caitlin's insta |
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| The stadium on a training day- props to SVSEF for putting together a fun and well-run race series |
The next day I was back in action in the skate sprint (at least I thought I was). During our first couple of race days, it was freezing HARD during the night after total meltdown during the sunny days. I thought I knew ice from skiing in Chamonix, but this was a whole new level of sketchy. I tried to find my balance on my most stable pair of skis and got amped up to go for the qualifier, and instead spent 3 minutes slipping and sliding along the course and wondering why my body felt like it was stuck in 2nd gear. I had a good kick at the end though, and crossed my fingers to make the heats...... then I found out I was 31st place, less than a 1/10th of a second from qualifying! Since it was my first time not making the heats all season long, I was a little mad and mostly bummed. But, it was a good reminder that qualifying is not something to take for granted, and I need to pin it every race and bring my best racing self to the start line no matter how I'm feeling or what the conditions are. Right after I finished my qualifier I found out that I would be scrambling for the Craftsbury 1 team in the club relay, since Ida was sidelined with a concussion. So I didn't have much time to feel sorry for myself, and instead I spent the day soaking up the sunshine, and cheering for my teammates Alex, Gordon, Caitlin, and Emily, who all made the heats.
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| Just a little Bambi on ice in the qualifier.. |
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| Luckily I got to cheer with these goobers, my favorite #Annies (photo from Ida/Noah Hoffman's blog) |
An off day turned out to be just what I needed to get ready for the club relay, and our team got pumped up for the day with green nail polish (for the girls) and war paint (for everyone). I absolutely love relay day, but I'd never really scrambled (gone out first) in a relay before. Before the day started, I made a goal to lose as little time to the leaders as possible and tag off to my teammates in a good position to contend for the podium. The race was one lap around the sprint course and one longer loop, and coming through the stadium after the first lap I found out that my skis were ridiculously fast (here would be a good time to mention how hard our techs Nick and Bryan worked, and how much they absolutely crushed it in ski prep for these races!). Instead of getting stressed and riding up on people, I just decided to take the lead and control the pace. Then, going through the stadium I heard my former Park City coach Gordon Lange yelling at me to break away. I wasn't quite able to get away, but I gave absolutely everything I had to the line and tagged off to our second leg in 4th place. It was one of my best races of the season and so fun to race with World Cup all-stars like Sadie Bjornsen and Liz Stephen. Anyways, the rest of our relay did a fantastic job as well, with Gordo hanging tough with the lead pack for as long as he could, Caitlin skiing her heart out with the 2nd fastest women's skate leg, and then Alex bringing it home for the team in 4th place. Let's just say we are super motivated to get on that podium next year!
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| Little snowy at the start...photo Steve Fuller of FlyingPoint Road |
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| Luckily I didn't know the train behind me was this long, otherwise I may have been a little more nervous! Photo FlyingPoint Road |
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| Going for it!- photo from Fasterskier |
And just like that, we only had one race left in the season, but arguably one of the toughest ones out there- a 30k mass start skate race. The men faced icy conditions in their 50k in the morning, but we had a different story, namely slow, sticky snow that gives the sensation of suction cups on the bottom of your skis. It was also really hot, a condition that I tend to dread since I overheat easily. I haven't been feeling super confident about my skating this season, but I tried to put that out of my head and instead focus on skiing a smart, consistent race. I got off to a good start and found that I was skiing the downhills pretty well and surviving the uphills, but I was also on a solo effort for almost 20 kms! Luckily the spectators and coaches were pretty awesome and helped me along with squirt guns, iced Gatorade (a life-savor!), snow down the back of my neck, and lots and lots of cheers and encouragement. I crossed the line in 11th place, definitely one of my best distance skate results ever and a reason to be more motivated to improve my skating for next year.
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| Start of the 30k- photo from Steve Fuller of Flying Point Road. You can see me in the white t-shirt in the middle/left |
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| One and a half laps down, 5 more to go (photo Flying Point Road) |
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| Not a bad day for a long ski in the sun- lapping through the stadium. Thanks again to Steve Fuller for the great shots! |
So the 2014-2015 season is officially over for me, and I need to send out a huge shout-out to all my teammates, friends, family, coaches, techs, supporters, and sponsors who helped make it all possible. This season was one of my best ever, not only in results but in having an absolute blast doing what I do, so thank you to everyone! Some of my GRP teammates are moving on next year, so I'll be really sad to see them go but excited to see where they end up in the next year. As for me, I'm in for another season with the Green Racing Project and already evaluating what I can do over the summer and fall to improve my racing, have more fun (always a priority!), and spread my love of cross country skiing as much as I can.
Now it's time for a little R and R in my hometown of Park City- I'll be packing up the nordic skis and hitting the alpine slopes for a few weeks before everything melts, and also trying to get down to the desert to explore Southern UT. In a few weeks, I'll be heading up to Alaska for a NANA Nordic Trip and I'll try to get a blog up sometime after that, but otherwise happy spring everybody!
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