Sorry about the last names... I don't know them all. And I also took two different pictures of the women's result list and missed no. 11 and Greta's time. I'm sure official results with teams and ski types will be up soon on the APUNSC website. Almost all the racers were APU, AK WinterStars or UAA athletes.
I felt solid. Skied hard the whole time. I will say that although I have Marwes like everyone else was using, mine do seem to be a lot faster.
APU had a time trial this morning up Potter Valley Rd. (Started at the marsh parking lot, out & back on Old Seward Hwy, up the hill.) Even though it was a small field and very low key it was good to do a "ski" race again. I felt pretty consistently strong through the whole thing, not quite hanging on to Kristina Strandberg toward the end of the climb.
Kikkan pulled off the front early and won with Strandberg in 2nd and then myself. I can tell you that my time was 24:05 and that the last time I did this course on 8/4/08 it was 25:07. Being able to compare times over the years is a good endorsement for keeping a thorough training log. The course record is 23-something.
Southam won the men's race and Jeff Ellis was second. Strandberg's sidekick didn't come out to race. I was pleased to see Southam and Ellis racing so well today since they both had off season's last year. My hope with Southam is that since he trained so hard last year (and believe me, he did) he set himself up to come into this year with a huge base and ready to race fast this season. And with Ellis, obviously, now that he's skiing with both arms again he should have a better season.
I really didn't do a very good job as a note-taker and can't tell you much more about the results than that.
Near the top of the first long uphill of the first lap of the men's 30km pursuit today. They did 4x3.75km classic and 4x3.75km skate. The women's race was 2x3.75km classic and 2x3.75km skate.
I had a fantastic time racing last evening at Birch Hill. I qualified in 5th, almost 7 seconds back from Stursova so it didn't get off to a very promising start but once we got into the rounds I got progressively faster-- 3:17 qualifier, 3:14 quarter, 3:10 semi, 3:05 final. Huh? Now why can't I just start out by skiing a 3:05? I think Gibbs changed my structure in my race skis between the qualifier and the heats but it couldn't have made that much of a difference.
I think I kind of like racing in Fairbanks. Everyone has been super nice and it seems that there's always someone in the start/finish area to make sure I get my warm-ups and a hot cup of tea if I want it. And the races have been run very professionally with no glitches. And there was even a cash pot for the winners (Koos won the men's sprint) donated by the spectators!
AND the Northern Lights were out after dinner! Which, in my opinion, made the whole trip to Fairbanks worthwhile, even if the racing hadn't been awesome.
The 4th & 5th men's quarterfinals at Drammen which Andy and Torin were in on Wednesday. I'm sure I'm violating all kind of copyright since I just taped the video screen at the venue, please forgive me.
I replay Andy's fall in slow motion for ya, it's pretty sweet. His klister stuck, which is not sweet at all, but he gets up fast. Way better than the Norwegian that slide off the track into the barrier fence and then just lay there. Although if I crashed into a fence on a downhill I might have just laid there too.
We had an APU/UAA time trial this morning at Hillside. Some of the juniors in town were time trialing a little later this morning also (different course), mostly Winter Stars athletes with some APU juniors and High School skiers, so there was plenty of fast skiing going on at Hillside.
I must admit I was a bit of a reluctant time trialist this morning and was a little lazy about getting in a good warmup. It's hard to get psyched for a time trial now that I've had a taste of real racing. We started at the top of Jr. Nordic and skied a lap of the lighted loop, then continued on the first half of the loop to the Hilltop parking lot, then down to the end of gasline and up Spencer, finishing at the high point on Spencer. If that sounds like gibberish to you, you're not alone, it was gibberish to me too this morning. I managed to mostly stay on the course though. There was one intersection where I wasn't entirely sure which way I should go. Luckily, Bart caught and passed me before I had to think too long and I followed him off to the left. Thanks, Bart! I returned the favor by tripping him with my pole when he came by me.
After the first lap Taz made up her 1 minute on me and I decided to ski with her and see if I could pick up any tips... Taz being notably good at those distance skate things and myself being not so good at them. It is amazing how much easier it is to ski when you're following someone. Normally I would say drafting but Taz doesn't offer much in the form of a draft for someone like me. Anyway, I definitely started skiing more smoothly once Taz passed me and I stayed with her to the finish at the top of Spencer.
This afternoon was nice and clear for the Kincaid stampede mass start classical rollerski race. There was a 6km race and a 12km race. For some reason they always want the women to do the shorter races. Not something I understand, but that's how "they" do it.
Taz Mannix was my obliging photographer today so all of these photos are thanks to her. Taz only recently has returned to Anchorage from being home recovering from appendicitis so she wasn't racing and got to hone her photography skills instead of her double-pole today. We missed her terribly while she was gone and are very glad to have her back at practice. I'm sure that Mishka was glad to have her home in Talkeetna for awhile though. Mishka is Taz's pet polar bear and hasn't gotten ridden much since Taz moved to Anchorage to train and attend APU.
The Lost Lake Run was absolutely gorgeous. 16miles of scenery and sunshine. I had considered running with my camera but decided against it since Laura-who-races-with-a-camera-so-she-can-stop-and-take-pictures isn't a moniker that I'd like to adopt. I would prefer something more like Laura-who-runs-race-courses-like-this-before-breakfast-as-a-warm-up. Although since it took me 2:10 to race the course it would probably take me 4hrs to run it as a warm-up and I like my breakfast.
The event raised a tremendous amount of money for cystic fibrosis, $85,000, more than any other year. I was not paying the best attention at the start because I was being introduced to Hannah Moderow and being impressed. I did hear that the competitors were 5:4 women:men which at first I was pleased about, gender-equality in sports and all that, until I remembered that I like being one of the only girls around... who wants to be in the majority?
The trail, once we made it up to the alpine meadow area, reminded me of the trails in Banff, Alberta-- well engineered and meandering through open alpine lakes and meadows. There was a particularly tempting lake about 9miles in that I really very much wanted to jump into. Sadly, someone had already ruined my oblivious frolic by informing me that I was the second woman so I felt obliged to keep running. I knew I didn't have a prayer of catching Cedar Bourgeois (4-time Mt Marathon winner) but I figured the women behind me would be out to pass me and, given the option, I would prefer to stay in second place. Which I did, with the help of some of the boys to pace off.
Amy Glenn, Laura Valaas, Sigrid Aas
The start of the women's race at Kincaid Park.
Kate "I'm tougher than you and you know it" Arduser
Brent "At some point in my career I want to be a male model" Knight
Kalysta "I'm going to beat you and look hot doing it" Schmidt
Mikey "Chuck Norris" Matteson
Katie "You only think I'm cute until I pass you" Ronsse
