The Final Climb: Nationals, Marathons, and Mammoth

Now that it's March the final push toward the end of race season has begun. This coming weekend (March 8-10) we host US Biathlon Nationals right here in Fort Kent. The following weekend the Nordic Heritage Center in Presque Isle hosts Eastern High School Championships. I'm not in high school so I won't be racing but I'll be there in some sort of volunteering capacity. Sunday of that same weekend is also a marathon (40k) in Madawaska that the current plan includes followed closely by the long drive home (3/20) to NH before flying to Mammoth Lake, CA (3/21) for the final event of my season, the Mammoth Biathlon.

Mammoth puts on a huge event for the general public but has an elite race on the final day featuring invited athletes flown in from all over the place. It's been happening for a few years now but every time I've been too blown out to be tempted so late in the winter. I've heard it's fun so this year I put it on the calendar and I'm going...hope there's snow and lots of sun!

My last couple of weeks have been action packed with volunteering, spectating, training, some racing, shoveling, and snowblowing. Oh, and quite a bit of knitting and sewing too!

Climbing my way up in the Aroostook Cup standings, taking two wins over two weekends. Somehow racing against boys (and men) can make even the smaller races more exciting! The turnout at the Himie Towle this past weekend was great....most kids ever and 51 entries in the distance events! 

Most of the school kids that I've been visiting this year (9 elementary classes) are coming to 10th Mountain this Friday to watch the races. Hopefully the forecast holds strong for them and we get 40 degrees and sunny...no better weather than that for spectating a ski race! On that note, yesterday's big accomplishment was a team effort to clear the 10th Mountain bleachers of almost 2 feet of heavy, wet snow. Strangely enough, I'm not as sore from so much shoveling as I had expected. 

Helping a 3 year-old up the hill on his first day skiing at Aroostook Youth Ski Day (that's me in the tutu). We had about 75 kiddos show up this year and ended up with perfect weather for an awesome morning of skiing!

If you need something entertaining to watch at some point, check this youtube video out and watch the masses fail to ski a (maybe slightly icy) classic-tracked downhill: 

Vasaloppet 2012

With all the snow that's been falling of late we have been spoiled with great conditions. 

A perfect afternoon ski on a rest day because I just couldn't help it. The sun was out, I knew conditions were absolutely perfect and nothing could keep me inside. 

A look over my shoulder at the twisting snowshoe track that Seth and I left behind on a fresh-powder morning adventure in the 10th Mountain/Lonesome Pines woods. Wonder if anyone followed us...

On the road again...

This morning finds me in Craftsbury, VT where I'm visiting my younger brother, Alex, for a few days before heading to Bond Brook in Augusta, ME this coming weekend.

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!