JO Update

Hey SLUSKI, just wanted to post an update on Ally and I at JO's. After arrving in Minneapolis late Saturday night, we went out to the race course to prep for monday's sprint the next day. It is interesting racing in a city, as we are staying downtown in a Marriot, with shuttles running constantly to the race site. There are also these glass skyways connecting all the buildings downtown to each other, which is sweet for not having togo outside to go to stores. The race courses are full of transitions, which makes smooth skiing necessary for success. The sprint course was deceptively hard because of this, and we were ready to rock it on Monday.

Monday's sprint race was ok for the both of us. I ended up 46th, missing te heats. I felt like I raced well, but not fast enough to advance. Ally ended up 32nd out of 33 OJ girls, but she was only about 1 second out of the heats. The heats were cool to watch, as the semi's and finals were held under the lights. It was a cool scene to watch, and New England destroyed everyone in most age groups.

After an easy course preview yesterday, we had the mass start classic race today. The girls raced 10 km and the guys 15 km. The distance course is also loaded with transitions, and some more challenging hills. The weather made for tricky waxing, as it was snowing and temperatures were right around freezing. The best skis today in the end were Zero's. I ended up finishing 41st on the day, and for the first time in a while I didn't blow up in a distance race. My Zero's were a little slow on the downhills, but I had great kick, and was catching kids at the end. I'm looking foward to Friday's skate race to have a strong race. Ally ended up 29th today, skiing against a small but competitive field including Jesse Diggins, fresh off the World Championships.

I'll post photos and another recap later. Also, congats to Leah on a good race today at NCAA's. We have a skate individual start on Friday, and a classic relay on Saturday. To get results and other info, go to the JO website (www.jo2011.com). They also have a live video feed to watch the races. That's all for now,

Bill