Today was a solid effort. I managed to stay out of trouble early and pick my way up thru the field once again and was sitting comfortably in 15th at 15k and was right in the lead pack at 25k. Then I hit a little rough patch. I was able to work thru it until about 30k when I started to run out of gas and had to let the lead group go. I really had no idea whether there was 10, 15, or 20k still to go I just knew I had to try and hang on to the other guys who were around me. That worked for a while but there was just nothing left in the tank…divbr //divdivThe course today held up really well thanks to a massive salting effort by the race crew. The area by the wax cabins has rivers of mud so to race on hard, fast, snow when it hasn’t been below freezing for a few days was so nice compared to the alternative. /divdivbr //divdivThe wax crew did a sweet job once again and I big thanks to the whole staff this week! Those guys do amazing work. /divdivbr //divdivLeaving World in 2005, I wanted to be in the fight the next year. 2006, the same. 2007, the same. This year I was finally in the fight and it makes ski racing over here so much cooler! I still have the last third of the race to work on but to be in the mix with the best guys in the world the week has been a huge confidence boost and I cannot wait until next year in Whistler! /divdivbr //divdivI leave Tuesday to go back home and will be racing the Tour of Anchorage on Sunday if I can stay heathly on the travel home. I have been the question from some of the other skiers if I am heading up to Lahti, Finland for next weeks World Cups. It would be great to get some more chances over the next few weeks but I am really looking forward to getting back to my girls in Anchorage. /divdiv class=”blogger-post-footer”img width=’1′ height=’1′ src=’https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5871152313769582978-4758504003500000443?l=jamessoutham.blogspot.com’ alt=” //div
