Trials Are Done!

I apologize if anyone got confused with the links I posted. The race on January 2nd had got postponed to Monday the 5th due to cold weather, and I did not compete in the race on the 3rd, since is did not help me to qualify for anything.

So lets start with Sundays race, the 10km individual skate. It was definitely the highlight of the weekend. I felt good and went out and pushed as had as I could. I ended up placing 4th Senior Woman and 2nd U23! My best result ever! It felt so good to finally stand up near the podium along with the top six. Good Day!

Next up was the 15km Pursuit on Monday. A pursuit is where you compete with both techniques. The first half was a 7.5km classic, then you exchange your equipment in the "pit" and do 7.5km skate. It was a mass start and unfortunetly with my points from the previous season I started in the last row back. It was a tough start. About 500m out, one of the grils infront of me broke a poll and I literally came to a stop for a few seconds while the lead pack skied away. For the remainder of the classic I fought my way back gaining a couple spots and had a clean exchange into skate. I was doing great and gaining on a couple girls ahead of me when I came down a hill and hit an icy patch of snow, slipped and fell. A couple girls behind me managed to get ahead and I was unable to pull them back for the remainder of the race. I finished 11th open woman and 3rd U23. I guess that is all part of racing and I did the best I could.

Today was the classic sprints. Sprints are really not my strong point, especially classic technique. I'm not sure if it is partly due to the fact that I am not physically as big as some of the other girls, but I have a real hard time with the double polling and can't seem to keep up. I tried as hard as I could today. I qualified 18th but was knocked out in my first heat.

So what now? We wait to see if I qualify to go to Europe for the U23 World Championships in France. I feel like I am on the bubble and it could go either way. I should find out in a couple days.
All in all, these were some of the best races of my career. I managed to stay healthy, nothing went seriously wrong and I just went out and skied the best I could. I feel so much stronger then last year and I know that all of my dreams are definitely within my reach.

Thanks to everyone once again who helped me get to where I am today.

Cheers!

Mass start of the Woman's 15km Pursuit
Teammate Alysson Marshall and I on the classic leg of the pursuit