January 04, 2012 – Getting to dance on the podium with your teammates is, without a doubt, the best feeling ever! We train together all year, room together, travel together, have dance parties together, and race together. And I’m super proud and happy for our entire team; athletes, coaches, wax techs. Awesome day! I ended up 1st, Caitlin 2nd, and Jennie in 3rd, while Karl took 6th on the men’s side.

Here’s a bit of a breakdown of my race: I always hate going into a race with a target on my back and too many nerves, so I was really trying to focus on only the things I could control and not putting too much pressure on myself. After a glitch in the timing system got sorted out and the qualifier results came in, I found myself with bib #1 by 2.5 seconds. It was a good confidence booster and I knew my speed was running well for the day.

I spent the quarterfinal and the semifinal playing around with tactics and figuring out ski speeds. I knew my boards were lightning fast, but I also knew the final downhill into the finishing stretch was a huge drafting spot. The semis got pretty messy and I found myself in danger of tripping over skis and poles, so for the final I made a pretty risky decision. I just went from the gun and led the whole thing, knowing Jennie and Caitlin would be getting the benefit of my draft on the downhill but wanting to avoid tangles. Turns out I bobbled and almost took myself out right before the finishing stretch, but caught my balance at the last second!

In the sprint lanes for the finish, I heard Jennie go down as she lost her balance and fell backwards. It made crossing the line first bittersweet because she’s my teammate and good friend and it really, really sucks when falls happen. It’s a part of racing - you need to stay on your feet - but it’s still super unfortunate. However, it’s proof of how awesome she is – fell and still placed 3rd! Caitlin skied smart and fast and it was great to have the three of us on the podium together. I could go on and on and ON about how amazing the equipment was and how well the coaches waxed them…but you’re probably tired of hearing all this by now!

The cooldown was my favorite part of the day (no joke!) because I got to run around the woods with teammates and cheer on our junior girls as they raced the heats. All results linked HERE.

So now we’re getting ready for the next races – we have a day off and then Thursday is the 10km skate. I’m keeping my fingers crossed for good weather!