Today we raced the 5/10k classic mass start. The start was a little tamer than last weeks 5k skate mass start. Unlike last week, the course was a bit more challenging and started off with 3 climbs in the first kilometer. This broke up the pack almost immediately. I had a solid start, putting myself in 8th place after the first climb. I skied relaxed and smooth and noticed that I had good kick going up the hills, compared to the other girls. I used this to my advantage and made up some ground. I was in 4th place, a few seconds behind the lead pack of three coming into the last half a kilometer. Unfortunately my skis weren’t quite as fast on the downhill and I lost some time in the finishing stretch. I ended up 6th overall…another solid race.br /br /div style=”text-align: center;”a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_bfd1dFDmRWA/S5vQgMMsUHI/AAAAAAAAAmM/d53SvFq4pj4/s1600-h/Europe+2010+099.jpg”img style=”margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;” src=”http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_bfd1dFDmRWA/S5vQgMMsUHI/AAAAAAAAAmM/d53SvFq4pj4/s320/Europe+2010+099.jpg” alt=”” id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5448177425683599474″ border=”0″ //aspan style=”font-style: italic;”Another beautiful day of racing!br //span/divbr /After the race, I cheered for the men and little did I know that Petra Majdic was standing next to me. I said hello and asked if she would take a picture with me. She was very nice! I was very careful not to bump her side…she is slowly recovering from her fall at the Olympics. She says that it is feeling better but it is a slow process.br /br /div style=”text-align: center;”a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_bfd1dFDmRWA/S5vQfmrTwnI/AAAAAAAAAmE/tQ_KicpHAeI/s1600-h/Europe+2010+092.jpg”img style=”margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;” src=”http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_bfd1dFDmRWA/S5vQfmrTwnI/AAAAAAAAAmE/tQ_KicpHAeI/s320/Europe+2010+092.jpg” alt=”” id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5448177415611466354″ border=”0″ //aspan style=”font-style: italic;”Petra Majdic and I!br //span/divbr /The fun did not stop this morning with a good race and meeting Petra! It got even better! The sledding track was open! It is a track that takes you 1.5k you down the mountain at 40 km/hr! It was pretty fun!br /br /div style=”text-align: center;”a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_bfd1dFDmRWA/S5vQfWjQOzI/AAAAAAAAAl8/cbtJiJajGZA/s1600-h/Europe+2010+105.jpg”img style=”margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;” src=”http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_bfd1dFDmRWA/S5vQfWjQOzI/AAAAAAAAAl8/cbtJiJajGZA/s320/Europe+2010+105.jpg” alt=”” id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5448177411282713394″ border=”0″ //aspan style=”font-style: italic;”Getting ready for a crazy ride with Noah Hoffmanbr //span/divbr /Tomorrow we have 10k skate race, pursuit style. I am hoping for a good starting position and a good result. After the race, we are headed to Munich. Half of the team is flying back to the states on Monday and the other half of us are spending a day, checking out the sights in Munich.br /br /I will update again as soon as possible!div class=”blogger-post-footer”img width=’1′ height=’1′ src=’https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5903545846797966075-520973478034646821?l=in-the-arena-nicole.blogspot.com’ alt=” //div
