FasterSkier

Monday was a disappointment. Tried to do way too much and ended up doing nothing at all to help my cause for the Olympics. Heading into yesterdays race I knew I had to have a good race and that I was going to go for the win. Realistically I was just hoping to stick with Kris as long as I could hoping to make it to the line relatively close to him so I could pick up some critical USSA points that I missed on Monday. 

Before big races I get nervous but more of an excited nervous. This week I was just nervous, the kind of nervous that if it goes on too long a person might have some heart issues. After Mondays disappointment it went to a whole other level. So I was very very ready to get yesterday underway. Once I got to the starting line my nerves started to settle a bit. I was able to settle in behind Kris after 100 meters and just stayed right behind him for the first lap as he skied tempo. Just skiing smooth and not trying to spend any extra energy. Heading into the second lap I took over the lead and just skied tempo hoping that we could just trade off leads until a couple K to go. At the end of that lap it was just the two of us up front. Once we climbed up the first major climb on the 3rd lap He took the lead for maybe 2k heading back down to the stadium and up the sprint hill giving me the lead as we went through the biathlon stadium. Not too long after I started hearing people cheering for David. "Who the heck is David?" I took a quick peak and saw the FAST suit and though that's pretty sweet that David Norris is having a good one. I also knew that he had just killed himself catching up to us and that heading up the next climb I would make him work a little more. I didn't make a big move just picked up the pace a little bit for the Hairpin climb when I got over the top and looked back there was nobody there... So I had 10k to the finish line and just started skiing. At that point it would have been easy to get way too excited an try and ski out of my head but I just settled in and tried to ski smooth and not look back. I got a feed heading out to the final lap and heard I had a 20 second lead. Once again I just skied steady not trying to do too much. At the top of Elliot's I took a quick peak and could see him not too far behind. Took a breath worked the top of the hill and came out of the bottom trying to ski smooth. I passed Erik heading into the sprint hill and he told me to ski strong and don't give him any reason to think he can catch you. I thought "I am strong!" and just tried to ski within myself an would not let myself look over my shoulder until the final rise into the stadium. Erik met me 150 meters before the finish and told me he is nowhere in sight and just enjoy this. I finally let go a little bit and just soaked those last seconds in. Winning a race like that in my hometown in front of all my people was one of the coolest things I have ever done. Thanks to everyone who was out there yesterday and all those who have helped me get to this point. It takes a village.