Back in America

I arrived back in America on Monday from my 1.5 month World Cup trip over to Europe. I had a great time and an invaluable experience. I met some pretty remarkable people and learned some things that I will take into consideration for next year's training plan.

Currently I am in Vermont racing our final races of the year and am hoping to grab another spot on the World Cup Tour this coming fall. If I race well enough I should be able to hold onto this spot.

Below are some pictures from the trip. One of the coolest things while I was there is one of my teammates, Kikkan Randall, won the first women's World Cup Sprint Globe. Huge deal! Huge!

The Big Show. Real Big.

Hey y'all-

Quite a time I've had since our training camp in Davos. I was hoping to get some good training in for the time we were there, but sometimes the body has its way and you have to do everything you can to get it ready for the next race without over doing it. Part of the game.

We headed to Lahti, Finland for a classic sprint and 30k pursuit race. The 30k race wasn't exactly what I wanted it to be, but I wasn't too surprised considering my week leading into it wasn't filled with solid healthy training. Davos is one place to get healthy though. Whoa! I actually felt really good in the classic sprint, not that it is a specialty of mine, but it felt really good to get a good, hard go in. I was 5 seconds out of qualifying, which is about the time margin I have been out in every sprint prelim this year. I am trying to narrow that as a goal.

Some pictures from Lahti:

* And yes, Lahti's ski stadium is a giant soccer stadium as well

We are now in Oslo, Norway awaiting one of the biggest races of the year. The 50km Holmenkollen. I am getting a little bit ahead of myself though. Yesterday was really amazing! There was a city sprint in Drammen, Norway and it was quite the spectacle. I was lucky enough to have my brother come and watch the race. After ceasing to qualify, we both watched as North America dominated the race and recent friend, Kikkan Randall, won the Overall Sprint World Cup.

It is truly awesome being apart of the scene over here. Meeting a ton of people that I used to have posters up on my wall of. Olympic Gold medalists, World Cup winners, and young people achieving PR's all over the place.

A shot Kjell took of me warming up for the sprint in Drammen:

This weekend we are racing at the venue where World Championships were last year in Oslo, Norway! The 50km Holmenkollen is a race I have always heard about but never thought I would have a chance to race and on Saturday I will be competing in it. Pretty happy to say the least.

I'll put up some pictures after Saturday's race. Hopefully there will be some good ones!

Lastly I had a good chance to catch up with my 4th grade class in Vail at Red Sandstone. Good to see them and see how things were going.