div style=”text-align: center;”br //diva onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_l4L_01UOs1s/S0ACdLYUxLI/AAAAAAAAANg/eZ3hZC7An48/s1600-h/IMG_2014.JPG”img style=”display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 180px;” src=”http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_l4L_01UOs1s/S0ACdLYUxLI/AAAAAAAAANg/eZ3hZC7An48/s320/IMG_2014.JPG” border=”0″ alt=”” id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5422336651648353458″ //adiv style=”text-align: center;”span class=”Apple-style-span” style=”font-weight: bold;”Sadie Starting- still a little dar/spanspan class=”Apple-style-span” style=”font-weight: bold;”k/spanbr //divdiv style=”text-align: center;”span class=”Apple-style-span” style=”font-weight: bold;”br //span/diva onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_l4L_01UOs1s/S0ADAyrEc5I/AAAAAAAAANo/yDXATMWyRCQ/s1600-h/IMG_2015.JPG”img src=”http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_l4L_01UOs1s/S0ADAyrEc5I/AAAAAAAAANo/yDXATMWyRCQ/s320/IMG_2015.JPG” border=”0″ alt=”” id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5422337263491380114″ style=”display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px; ” //adiv style=”text-align: center;”span class=”Apple-style-span” style=”font-weight: bold; “Fast skis- Thanks to Ben Husaby and Scott/spanbr //divGreat day of racing all around for US skiers today. Erik, Sam and I all skied strong and are feeling like we are back in good racing form. The day started early with the 1.5km qualifier round. Temperatures were cold, with an even colder wind blowing off the ocean making for some cold hands, cold feet and cold…. everything! Fortunately the snow is so wet here that even with this cold weather, it’s still fast!divbr //divdivIn the qualifier rounds the woman’s field was all pretty tight with exception to World Championships medalist, Kikkan Randall who finished around 8 seconds ahead of the second place racer. I finished 6th place overall, first U23 skier, about 12 seconds out from Kikkan. I was happy with the results and the way I was feeling, but saw many places that I could pick up time if I were to ski the course a little smarter. After putting my feet up and resting for about two hours before the heats I started pumping myself up for the coming rounds. I knew I was feeling good today, and anything could become if I remained calm and powerful. I took off from the gun quick and aggressive wanting to get a good position within the pack, but about 200 meters down the trail I stuck my pole between my legs and was down. Before I had time to think what just happened, I quickly tried to hoist myself back up and get going again. Falling in a sprint race is hard- mentally and physically. There is not much time for mistakes, and the time you lose from the loss of momentum is hard to gain back. The first thoughts that ran through my head as always in a situation like this were, “crap, the race is over for me”. As quickly as possible I pushed those thoughts out of my head and started thinking positive again, convincing myself that I had to give it my all and try to come back. Throughout the next two minutes I put my head down and skied as hard as I could, knowing every position I picked back up was valuable. I ended up catching two girls, and was coming close to the third girl, but ran out of time. I felt awesome though, and am confident that if I wouldn’t have gone down at the start things could have gone really well! Falling is part of sprint racing though. Many great skiers fall and are still able to gain their position back to advance on. That is part of the learning experience. Today was a disappointment for me- but a learning lesson and a good experience as well. Even after things went bad from the start, I pulled myself back together and was able to push like hell to the finish line. The good news is we still have three more races, so I have three more opportunities to show “what I really got”./divdivbr //divdivOn a happier note Sam and Erik qualified 16th and 23rd respectively. Sam’s quarterfinal was a strong group and he managed to finish 5th in his heat missing out on moving on by not much. I watched him ski and he looked powerful and smooth. I believe he was satisfied with the day but is confident he can do better in the next sprint. Erik had an unbelievable quarterfinal and won his heat which allowed him to advance onto semi-finals. He skied the course really smart and made all the right moves in the right places which set him up for a great race. His semi-finals he skid strong again, but was dropped a bit by the top pack, finishing 5th in his heat. From there he advanced onto B Finals, where he once again skied a very smart race finishing 4th in his heat, 10th OVERALL- 2nd junior!!!!! This is by far Erik’s best result at US Nationals, which is extremely exciting to see. I have watched Erik ski all year and it was very clear today that he is back on his game and he and Sam will be tearing it apart this week. It is exciting to watch!/divdiv style=”text-align: left;”br //diva onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_l4L_01UOs1s/S0ADW4RhqqI/AAAAAAAAANw/cK83TjwVY-M/s1600-h/IMG_2021.JPG”img src=”http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_l4L_01UOs1s/S0ADW4RhqqI/AAAAAAAAANw/cK83TjwVY-M/s320/IMG_2021.JPG” border=”0″ alt=”” id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5422337642951977634″ style=”display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 208px; ” //adiv style=”text-align: center;”span class=”Apple-style-span” style=”font-weight: bold;”Erik 10th Place!/span/divdivbr //divdivAlso other impressive results from today- Simi Hamilton took his first National title today!!! Beth Reid- former speed skater Beth Heiden took 6th!/divdivbr //divdivOur next race will be Monday, which is a 10km skate race for the woman and 15km for the men./divdiv class=”blogger-post-footer”img width=’1′ height=’1′ src=’https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2910103639238326543-840538142999980907?l=methowolympicdevelopment.blogspot.com’ alt=” //div
