End of Season

Now that the end of the season is here, it is hard to believe it’s already over! This past week U.S. Long-Distance Nationals in Fairbanks, Alaska wrapped up the 2008-2009 season. We had a series of four races within six days, two of which made-up for national races canceled earlier in the year in Anchorage.

After recovering from two weeks of being sick, I went into the first race trying to get my body in racing mode again. The 5k classic was a tight race and I finished 11th overall. Despite a mediocre result, I of course had hopes for better. The next day was a team sprint. I partnered with my Sun Valley teammate, Morgan Arittola. After placing second by a hair in the semi-finals, we advanced to the finals and placed 6th overall. It was a tough race but we hung in there.

After one rest day, we were back on the trails, this time for the 15k duathlon. The pace went out fast and I held back a little to conserve for the second portion of the race. I skied a consistent race but didn’t place as high as I had hoped. It came down to a sprint in the final 100 meters and I just didn’t have enough to push any harder.

The week concluded with the 30k classic race. While I wouldn’t consider a 30k classic to be a strong race for me, last year I did well in this event, so I went into the race with an optimistic attitude. Five kilometers into the race, my optimism disappeared and I was struggling just to hang on. I had lost
the front pack and I was discouraged with the speed of my skis as girls literally zipped past me on the down hills. Thoughts of quitting ran through my head, but my willpower wouldn’t allow me to stop…after all, this was the last race of the season. What did I have to loose? For the next 25k I kept going, that’s about all I can say. I wasn’t going fast but I was skiing and I was determined to finish.

This week I am enjoying some good R&R at home and I plan to do some fun back-country ski trips before heading back to Sun Valley. I am excited to have a few weeks of downtime, but I’m already looking forward to starting the 2009-2010 season the beginning of May.