A week and a half ago I drove to Stowe, VT from Fort Kent (yes, that's a very, very long drive) for the Eastern Cup. I only did the skate race, opting to help with ski testing on the classic race day instead. My 5k skate race didn't go as well as I'd hoped. It turns out that when you only do races 7.5k and longer, finding that 5k gear is tough.
After Stowe I went home to NH for a few days to visit my parents and get in a few ski sessions on the ribbon of man-made snow that my dad's been creating at Gunstock. My stay was short-lived but much needed....it's always nice to sleep in my own room! From NH I drove back to VT for the winter edition of Jericho races (we race there every summer in August as well). As always, we stayed in the barracks and experienced some pretty chilly weather while southern New England got buried in snow. We only got a few inches in Jericho so missing out on all the accumulation was kind of disappointing.
Our team did really well in Jericho this year. We had six athletes racing and managed to take four podium positions each day. Raleigh (senior mens), Cody (boys) and I (senior women's) all won both our races and Gentle (girls) took 3rd both days. I was fairly happy with how my races went. I didn't feel like I really skied up to my potential but sometimes I feel like it's hard to push myself to an extreme point of pain when I really don't have to for the win. These races really weren't well attended on the top end; I won the sprint by over two minutes and the pursuit by almost five. My shooting was good but not great. I missed two in the sprint (2,0) and four in the pursuit (1,1,1,1). Unfortunately I returned to my old ways in the pursuit, missing my last shot in both standing stages. Something to work on in the coming weeks.
This week I'm in Craftsbury, soaking up the excellent food and exploring a plethora of trails that I haven't skied before and I finally met my brother's new dog, Gunnar. I'm looking forward to more awesome skiing and then my first classic race of the season next weekend in Maine!
Check back for more pictures later this week when I find faster internet!
