After a week of 50-60ยบ weather and trips to Canada, winter decided to come back. This was good, because some of us were trying to use these post-carnival races as a way to stretch out our seasons until Spring Series (coming up this weekend, so look for a more timely blog update!) We are all very motivated, but gosh, after a long season it is tough to stay in the skiing mindset when there is no snow on campus and people are walking around in shorts. So, not only was the Craftsbury snow beautiful, but it was a good reminder that things aren't over yet!
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| Winter again (Dana photo) |
Dana and I had a beautiful pre-race ski at Craftsbury. The snow was stuck to the trees and still coming down. It was gorgeous. We also managed to get to the Townsend's without getting lost; however, we did slide around a little bit.
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| Having fun :) (Dana photo) |
We had a wonderful dinner with the Townsend's. The bread was amazing as always, and I am sure I ate enough of it to make up for Dana being gluten free. Thank you so much to ETown's parents for hosting us so often.
The next day, we did the skiathlon. It was a 6 lap 2ish k course. At first, we were a bit upset that we had to do so many laps, but it actually was nice to stay off the huge hills when we were trying to stride in skate boots. Dana had an awesome start to the race and kept me in sight for a long time, but ended up getting taken out by another skier... She got up and made the best of it, still good for the U23 podium, but it was definitely disappointing for her to be doing so well until getting knocked to the ground by another skier. The course was a little crazy with people lapping people and the men only starting 10 min before the women. Aside from that, it was fun racing!
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| Trying to classic ski in skate boots... (Bob Townsend photo) |
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| Dana skiing strong (Bob Townsend photo) |
We both were grateful to have some fresh snow, a nice time at the Townsend's, and we even learned some coach skills by helping with kick wax on race morning. I'm just going to say that I still don't know how coaches do it... I don't really know any college racers that know how to kick wax and use flouros, but somehow all the coaches do. Who knows when or how the athlete to coach transformation happens, but if Dana and I are any indication, it definitely hasn't happened yet. For now, though, we're both still happy to be living the racer life :) Thanks to everyone who supports us for making it happen. Also, thank you to Mansfield Nordic for a great race, Craftsbury for hosting, ETown for making sure Dana and I put the right kick wax on our skis (it was great), and the Townsends for hosting us!
Women's Results
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| ETown crushing the coach life (Bob Townsend photo) |
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