Catching Up

I seem to have fallen off the blogging train since the race season kicked off in November so this post is an attempt to get up to speed. I won't bore you with too many words, but will instead share some pictures from our various travels.

The first SuperTour races took place in chilly West Yellowstone, Montana with back-to-back skate races. The town, which was nearly deserted when we first arrived, was hopping by the time the weekend rolled around and the trails became virtually flooded with happy skiers of all ages.

Enjoying all the snow in West
Yellowstone!

Liz skiing off into the sunset

Ready to brave the cold temps for our first race of the
season with my thickest long underwear, a pair
of toe warmers on each leg, and some duck tape.
Luckily it all fit under my suit! 

The races in West Yellowstone went fairly well and I improved upon my results from last year with two 18th place finishes. In addition to racing, I got to catch up with two close friends from college who both happen to be living in Big Sky!! They came to watch me race the sprint which was awesome! We stayed in West for a few more nights following the races and then drove to Sun Valley for the second SuperTour weekend featuring two back-to-back classic races which is always a favorite of mine, but definitely less exciting for our techs...

Enjoying the scenic Idaho landscape during our drive to Sun Valley

Team photo at Crater of the Moon National
Monument

Some off-day adventuring

We found a partially frozen river and I got a bit carried
away taking artsy pictures along the edge...

There wasn't much snow in Sun Valley when we first arrived, but after many volunteers spent countless hours shoveling, the trails at Lake Creek were in great shape and race-ready. Classic tends to be my stronger technique so I was hoping to improve upon my results from last weekend. However, I wasn't expecting to qualify first! The team as a whole had a fantastic qualifier with Caitlin in second, Liz in fourth, and Heather also making the heats. Anna and Nick did a fantastic job with our skis and I ended up making it all the way to the final along with Caitlin. I finished second with Caitlin right behind in third for my best-ever SuperTour finish. It was quite exciting to have two GRP athletes on the podium!

Start of the final
(photo: Fasterskier)

Post-race group hug
(photo: Caitlin)

photo: Caitlin

One last distance workout before heading home.
It was a winter wonderland and I didn't
want to stop skiing!

Back at home baking cookies for the Outdoor Center's
holiday staff party. We made over 200!
(photo: Caitlin)

Unfortunately we returned to no natural snow at home... However, the Center staff had done an excellent job of blowing and moving snow so there was a solid 1.5k loop in the field which we made good use of. 

Climbing Chip Hill during the Craftbsury Eastern Cup
(photo: John Lazenby)

While at home I found time to make some Arctic-themed notecards to add to my Etsy shop. The original prints are from a field notes-style artist book I made senior year of college. The book documented many of the flower and wildlife species I encountered while studying on Svalbard in the Norwegian Arctic. I created the book to portray some of the fascinating and beautiful life forms that grow and thrive in the harsh Arctic landscape.

For sale as a set of 5 (including four different Arctic
wildlife cards) here or as a single card here.

For sale as a set of 5 (including four different Arctic
wildflower cards) here or as a single card here.

Christmas socks that I knit for the mother and the sister

Anyway, I've digressed, back to skiing... After a quiet Christmas at home with my family, it was off to Houghton, Michigan for US Nationals. It was my fifth time traveling to Houghton for races. The first time I raced there was in 2006! I really like the courses in Houghton and the officials and volunteers run incredibly well organized races so it's always a fun place to return to. 

Playing with our new furry friends at the 
Chassell General Store

A house-sized kicksled!!

Last year I made huge improvements at Nationals qualifying for heats in both the skate and classic sprint, and racing to a personal-best 13th place in the 20k classic race. I came into Nationals this year feeling strong and hoping for further improvement with a goal of posting some top-10 finishes. Needless to say I was quite pleasantly surprised when I finished the individual 10k classic race and discovered I was second behind Caitlin (who won her first National title). I was getting good splits on course, but I was the first starter in the A-seed so I wasn't sure how accurate they were. Turned out they were pretty accurate! We had excellent skis which, thanks to lots of hard work from Nick and Ollie, turned out to be the norm for the week.

Starting the 10k individual classic race
(photo: Terry Smythe)

Double podium for the GRP!!
(photo: Liz)

photo: Fasterskier

The following day was the skate sprint in which I qualified 13th. All the GRP women qualified for the heats which was awesome. I felt a bit snappier and more alert during the heats and after winning my quarterfinal and getting lucky loser in my semi, I ended up in the final. I didn't get off the line super quick and ended up at the back of the pack for most of the heat, but was able to make a few passes heading into the finishing stretch and move up to fourth!

Quarterfinal skate sprint heat - I'm bib #13
(photo: SkinnySki)

After two days off from racing we were back at it for the 20k mass start skate. Skating (especially distance skating) has historically been my weakness so I've spent a considerable amount of time working on my technique and building strength. Thus, I was exceptionally happy with my 10th place finish (also, Caitlin had another fantastic day capturing her second national title).

Practicing my vertical jump before the start of the 20k mass start skate
(photo: SkinnySki)

Beginning of the 20k mass start - if you look carefully you can spot the
torsos of all four GRP womem
(photo: SkinnySki)

Cornering during the mass start
(photo: SkinnySki)

The last race of the week was the classic sprint which had the potential to be our team's best race. As Pepa always says "last one, best one." We started the morning well with me qualifying in 1st, Liz in 2nd, Heather in 5th, and Caitlin in 11th. Then, after spending a rather jittery hour in the warm sprinter van, it was time for the heats. I was pretty nervous and just kept reminding myself to work on skiing efficiently and focus on what I could control. Once again we had superb skis, thanks to the very dedicated and hardworking Nick and Ollie. 

Racing the classic sprint quarterfinal with Caitlin. Including the skate
sprint, we skied 5 out of 6 heats together.
(photo: SkinnySki)

Pepa motivating us to ski faster with lots of enthusiastic cheering
(photo: Terry Smythe)

Toeing the line for the final
(photo: Christopher Schmidt)

Sprinting to the finish line 
(photo: Christopher Schmidt)

My "holy cow I just won" moment
(photo: Christopher Schmidt)

To come away from Nationals with two podium finishes, including a national championship, was incredibly exciting, a bit overwhelming, and definitely unexpected. What made the experience even better was that my teammates also had an incredible week of racing. And as a team, the last one was definitely our best one as all four GRP women finished in the top-10! 

Pepa's been coaching and supporting me since I was a
junior and has been incredibly instrumental
to my growth as a skier. 

However, the real excitement didn't start until after the podium ceremony when I over-hydrated in anticipation of the post-race drug test and gave myself a splitting headache, flickering vision, and pretty extreme nausea. I made it through the test and back to our rental house before vomiting up a copious amount of liquid in the driveway which left me feeling only marginally better. I spent the rest of the day in bed and awoke the next morning feeling much improved and quite ravenous. Upon emerging from my room I was greeted by Ollie who exclaimed, "it is alive!" After a substantial breakfast (laced with salt), I was ready to get back on my skis! 

Enjoying the narrow winding trails
in Chassell before flying home

We're back in Craftsbury now and it's good to be home. The skiing is fantastic and it's nice to be reunited with some of our other teammates. We'll be in the east for a few weeks racing the Lake Placid and Stowe SuperTours before we head off in various directions for more racing. Based on results from Nationals, Heather earned a spot on the U23 Worlds team and will be racing in Romania come February, Caitlin is now the overall SuperTour leader thus earning start spots for the Period III World Cups in Europe, and both Caitlin and I earned Nation's Group start spots in the World Cup Canadian Tour in March. If you had told me that in my second year as a post-collegiate skier I would have earned a World Cup start, I wouldn't have believed you. Just goes to show you never know what can happen! However, I do know it couldn't have happened without the caring support of my family, coaches, wax techs, friends, and teammates.

Thanks for reading and I'll try to update slightly more regularly so as to avoid marathon-length posts such as this one...