We arrived back home in Craftsbury to sweet skiing. Not going to lie it felt great to sleep in my own bed, eat the delicious food at the COC dining hall, and catch up with everyone here. Only a few days later, Kait, Hallie and I road-tripped over to Waterville, Maine for the Eastern Cup/Bates Carnival and I raced the 5k skate individual. I think I was still pretty tired from Nationals, but I was happy to race to 4th place, less than a second from the podium. The next day Kait and I sat out the 10k mass start classic, opting to wax test for the juniors and Hallie. It was a blast testing skis, cheering for the juniors, and also seeing Hallie on top of the podium after a summer and fall that included double meniscus surgeries and sickness.
Two weekends later we hopped on the ferry across Lake Champlain all the way to Lake Placid for a SuperTour freestyle sprint and 10k classic. Instead of holding the races on the Olympic race trails at Mt. Van Hoevenberg, the organizers had to use the man-made loop at the base of the ski jumps. In college I had a really good result racing a 5k classic on the jump trails so I was actually pretty excited for the change of venue. However, I think I overestimated the effect of training and traveling on my body, and I felt a little flat and tired all weekend. I followed up an 8th place qualifier in the skate sprint with a lucky loser spot into the semis, where I finished 5th, good for 9th overall. I wasn't totally psyched with the result, but it was fun to celebrate Caitlin's 26th birthday and cheer her to a 2nd place finish. The next day we raced 10k classic individual on one of the toughest courses I've ever skied. To give you an idea, we started at the bottom of the 120m ski jumps and and the course topped out all the way near the in-run of the jumps, then came down and around. And then we repeated 4 times. I have a lot of respect for my teammate Caitlin's race that day, as she won by around 1 minute! I took 11th place, never really hitting my stride but pushing through nevertheless.
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| Getting the rough end of the "slingshot" effect in the Lake Placid sprint, APU speedsters Chelsea Holmes and Becca Rorabaugh coming through (Photo Alex Howe) |
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| Women's sprint semifinal #2 (Photo Alex Howe) |
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| A smile even with klister all over his hands! Thanks Nick for always taking such good care of us and our skis (Photo Alex Howe) |
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| GRP women's team |
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| Kait had another awesome result, finished 2nd in the 10k classic! (Photo Alex Howe) |
One weekend later, we were supposed to race on the Trapp Family Lodge 5k course in Stowe. However, a few days prior to the race we kept hearing reports that rain had wiped out the entire stadium, so in a last minute decision they moved the race up to Craftsbury on our 2.4k man-made loop. The East is hurting for snow this year, but venues with snow-making work so hard to make racing a possibility. Seeing the work firsthand here at Craftsbury makes me really appreciate having snow to ski on!
Anyways, we had another 5k skate individual at Craftsbury, and I felt good warming up and went as hard as I possibly could during the first lap, survived the second lap with maximal pain (pacing may be something I could work on...), and finished 8th in the SuperTour/collegiate field. I was happy but not entirely satisfied with that, and knew I had a bit more in the tank. The following day we had a 10k, with 4 laps of the same course. We've done a lot of training on the course they used, so I knew where to push it, and especially that the flats and downhills were a place to make up a lot of time with a powerful "reach" double pole. I started out hard again and by the second lap had caught up with APU's Rosie Frankowski. The APU ladies chose to double pole the 10k on skate skis, which I thought was incredibly gutsy, bad-ass, and proves that the US women's field is getting stronger all the time. I'm all for it. I chose to go on classic skis because I know that striding is my strength and I have a lot of confidence in our wax tech, Nick Brown, and his ability to give us really fast classic skis with solid kick. Rosie, Jessica Yeaton (also APU) and I skied much of the rest of the race together going back and forth on the uphills and flats. The whole race was a blast, and I knew I was having a good one by the splits I received during the race. I crossed the line to find that I was tied for 2nd place, which also ties my best ever SuperTour result! It was a fun way to celebrate my 25th birthday as well. Huge thanks to the maintenance and grooming crew at Craftsbury for pulling off a quality race despite less than ideal conditions, and also to Nick, Ollie, Anna, Ruth, and Pepa for waxing, cheering, and just generally making things fun on race weekend.
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| Finishing out a tough 5k skate (Photo Kait Miller) |
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| Hallie and I are all smiles and tired squints after a tough 10k. (Photo John Lazenby) |
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| Making a pass before dropping down into the pipeline in the classic race (Photo Kait Miller) |
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| Women's 10k Classic Podium with Erika Flowers (SMS-T2) and Julia Kern (SMS PG) Photo John Lazenby |
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| My mom and Pepa at the awards (Photo Sue Higgins Gill) |
Up next, I plan to race Dartmouth Carnival this weekend as it's being held on our home course in Craftsbury again and then in a few weeks I'll be leaving to compete in OPA Cups in Arber, Germany and Toblach, Italy in early March. I'm really excited about the direction my season is headed after a slow start. My teammate Susan gave me some great advice earlier this winter to "keep the fire burning" inside of me in spite of bad results or frustrating setbacks. It may be a slow burn, but I'm hoping that the fire will just get hotter! I'll check back in a few, in the meantime pray for snow in the east!!
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| I got to learn how to drive the snowmobile for a race-trail shoveling work project. Pretty fun! |
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| Hallie on top at Waterville! (sorry for the tiny/blurry picture) |
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| Post-dinner ski commutes to our house from the dining call for the latest in ski fashion |
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| But skiing through the moonlight.... can't beat it |
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| Clare came to visit on break from the IBU World Cup! This photo is not staged. Ethan liked it. |
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| Got slightly addicted to a 2,000 piece puzzle, here's Mike with the finished product |
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| Great to have mom course-side for the SuperTour and my birthday! |
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| Now a member of the quarter century club- blowing out the candles with Dave, who shares my Feb. 7 bday |
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