meta equiv=”Content-Type” content=”text/html; charset=utf-8″meta name=”ProgId” content=”Word.Document”meta name=”Generator” content=”Microsoft Word 10″meta name=”Originator” content=”Microsoft Word 10″link rel=”File-List” href=”file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5CNicole%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtml1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml”o:smarttagtype namespaceuri=”urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags” name=”State”/o:smarttagtypeo:smarttagtype namespaceuri=”urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags” name=”City”/o:smarttagtypeo:smarttagtype namespaceuri=”urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags” name=”place”/o:smarttagtype!–[if gte mso 9]xml w:worddocument w:viewNormal/w:View w:zoom0/w:Zoom w:compatibility w:breakwrappedtables/ w:snaptogridincell/ w:wraptextwithpunct/ w:useasianbreakrules/ /w:Compatibility w:browserlevelMicrosoftInternetExplorer4/w:BrowserLevel /w:WordDocument /xml![endif]–!–[if !mso]object classid=”clsid:38481807-CA0E-42D2-BF39-B33AF135CC4D” id=”ieooui”/object style st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } /style ![endif]–style !– /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:””; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:”Times New Roman”; mso-fareast-font-family:”Times New Roman”;} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} — /style p class=”MsoNormal”o:p/o:p/pThe past couple of weeks have definitely been a bit challenging. I am currently in Collingwood, Ontario for Canadian Nationals. Along with little snow and marginal racing conditions, I acquired a cold the day I arrived in Collingwood. The combination of being on the brink of sickness, traveling all day, getting little sleep, and skiing in pouring, resulted in a disappointing week of simply waiting for my symptoms to go away.
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br /Today is day 9 and I’ve completed one out of three races. I sat the first two races out hoping to feel better. After waking up without a sore throat yesterday, I decided I was on the mend and raced the classic sprint. While I definitely did not feel 100%, I used yesterday’s race as a good “wakeup” workout for my body. I was pleased with my 11th place finish, despite being sick the entire week.
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br /I had hopes of racing the 30k race tomorrow, but my body is still fighting off sickness and I am hoping for complete health before I travel to Anchorage on Monday. U.S. Long-Distance Nationals is coming up on March 24th in Fairbanks, AK and I am now focusing on good results there. Those races will wrap-up the 2009 season.
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br /I will keep you posted from Alaska!p class=”MsoNormal”/p div class=”blogger-post-footer”img width=’1′ height=’1′ src=’https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5903545846797966075-7782202978102208097?l=in-the-arena-nicole.blogspot.com’ alt=” //div
