On a cold morning out at Kincaid Park, in Anchorage Alaska, more than 300 racers blazed off the starting line to kick off the first day of the U.S. Nationals Cross-Country Ski Championships. For many, warming up in the dark and racing with the moon setting on one side and the sun rising on the other was a new experience…and for those of us from Alaska, well we thought nothing of it. With temperatures barely above zero degrees, everyone was excited to race and begin a tough week of racing!br /br /div style=”text-align: center;”a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_bfd1dFDmRWA/Sz_3jUjbwpI/AAAAAAAAAh8/kxzdW7sFGV4/s1600-h/nationals,+sunrise.jpg”img style=”margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 194px; height: 320px;” src=”http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_bfd1dFDmRWA/Sz_3jUjbwpI/AAAAAAAAAh8/kxzdW7sFGV4/s320/nationals,+sunrise.jpg” alt=”” id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5422324662562177682″ border=”0″ //aspan style=”font-style: italic;”Photo by Marc Lesterbr /br //span/divdiv style=”text-align: center;”a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_bfd1dFDmRWA/Sz_0n2i5w6I/AAAAAAAAAhk/QkOVMLsc_Ic/s1600-h/nationals,+moon.jpg”img style=”margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 208px;” src=”http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_bfd1dFDmRWA/Sz_0n2i5w6I/AAAAAAAAAhk/QkOVMLsc_Ic/s320/nationals,+moon.jpg” alt=”” id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5422321441871348642″ border=”0″ //aspan style=”font-style: italic;”Photo by Marc Lesterbr /br //span/divI had a decent qualifier, placing 9th, but failed to ski aggressive enough in the quarterfinal to make it into the semis. While I was disappointed with my result, I am ready to charge in to Monday’s 10k freestyle race.br /br /div style=”text-align: center;”a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_bfd1dFDmRWA/Sz_3bwvhjII/AAAAAAAAAh0/mTCKkGC4MDo/s1600-h/nats+stadium.jpg”img style=”margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 216px;” src=”http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_bfd1dFDmRWA/Sz_3bwvhjII/AAAAAAAAAh0/mTCKkGC4MDo/s320/nats+stadium.jpg” alt=”” id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5422324532690128002″ border=”0″ //aspan style=”font-style: italic;”Photo by Marc Lester/spanbr //divbr /A big congratulations to Simi Hamilton, my fellow Sun Valley ODT teammate, who won the men’s sprint race! Simi won the qualifier and continued to ski strong all day!br /br /div style=”text-align: center;”a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_bfd1dFDmRWA/Sz_2L4rr8nI/AAAAAAAAAhs/OPTi1ZnRFbE/s1600-h/HamiltonWinner.jpg”img style=”margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 214px; height: 320px;” src=”http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_bfd1dFDmRWA/Sz_2L4rr8nI/AAAAAAAAAhs/OPTi1ZnRFbE/s320/HamiltonWinner.jpg” alt=”” id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5422323160431981170″ border=”0″ //aspan style=”font-style: italic;”Simi Hamilton, racing his way to a National Championship!br /Photo by Rob Whitneybr //span/divbr /The rest of the week looks like this:br /br /Sunday: Rest/training daybr /Monday: 10/15k freestyle racebr /Tuesday: Rest/training daybr /Wednesday: 20/30k classic racebr /Thursday: Rest/training daybr /Friday: Classic sprint racebr /br /You can find up to date results at: www.summittiming.combr /br /I will also update my blog as the week progresses!div class=”blogger-post-footer”img width=’1′ height=’1′ src=’https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5903545846797966075-724772375691804832?l=in-the-arena-nicole.blogspot.com’ alt=” //div
