My First Diagnosis

My Dad recently had a painful tooth infection and became pretty run down. I overheard him mention to my Mom that he had a rash on his leg. I questioned if he was on an antibiotic for the tooth infection. Dad said he was on Amoxicillin... "Uh-Oh". After a family ski when I was thirsty and out of water, my Dad offered me his but I turned it down and said "thanks, but no thanks-- there's a good chance you have Mono".

This past summer and fall I had the opportunity to do some job shadowing with Christi Froiland, a local PA who is highly skilled and respected. One of her patients came into the clinic with a rash, and he recently on Amoxicillin for his strep throat. Christi explained that penicillin derivatives can trigger a rash if a patient is infected with the Epstien-Barr Virus (which causes Mononucleosis). We did a quick blood test and I even got to feel the patient's enlarged spleen... yup, the guy had Mono.

Dad agreed to get a Mono test, so the rest of our family would know whether to take extra health precautions. It was POSITIVE, so yup, Dad has mono. My time with Christi was incredibly inspiring and informative, but I never expected that I what I learned would prepared me to diagnose my Dad! We have been extra careful at the Ronsse house since Heather and I depend on good health in order to race fast. Yesterday, Dad was only allowed to blow out the birthday candles placed on his slice of cake and he has been relieved of all cooking and dish duties-- I'm pretty sure he doesn't mind.
Zimm and I have been training hard and want to keep healthy so we can race well at the upcoming US Nationals.

One of the many great quotes from Elizabeth Gilbert's book, "Eat, Pray, Love", is that "Dedication is diligence without assurance". Dedicated athletes invest an outrageous amount of time in preparation for competition, and since good physical health is something you can't take for granted, it's important to be cautious and not let the extensive training go to waste. That being said, I'm a believer that life is meant to be lived to its fullest...and a fear sickness should not consume a person. I have been searching for this balance over Christmas break and have thoroughly enjoyed my time spent with family and friends.
Anna Barnwell, Katie Ronsse, Justin Calvin, Paige Brady, and Mandy Vincent-Lang out for a "j.A.W.S. girls" reunion.Justin Libby enjoying a day at the beach.

All I Want for Christmas is... SKIS!

Little Callie was just asking for chocolate from Santa, but Mr. Claus must've known that she was an exceptionally good girl this year because she also got skis!
Two year olds just don't get any cuter than Callie. We got to cheer her on as she raced around on skis for the first time-- she's a natural. Apparently, when I first stepped on skis I was a complete klutz...so the truth came out about why my parent's signed me up for dance and gymnastics classes.

Miss Callie even tried a little skijoring!
I have also been thrilled with the new skis I have received from Atomic this year. They are rockets and the flex of each pair in my fleet is dialed in for each type of snow condition. I think its important to have a lot of "tricks in the bag" in order to consistently race fast on a multitude of courses and conditions. Fitness is of utmost importance but skis do make a difference. Since we're racing at many different venues (that have varying humidities, temperatures, snow types, etc) and weather is often volatile anyway, it's imperative to be able to pick from an arsenal of skis if a skier expects to frequently race fast. Its assuring knowing that I have the equipment needed to perform my best and I wont need to worry whether I will have fast skis in certain types of snow. Instead, I will be able to focus on the adjustments within my control on race day-- such as how I will adjust my technique and tempo for certain snow conditions and terrain.

NorAm Racing Recap

Our early season racing trip concluded with a classic sprint and a 10k classic in Silver Star, BC. My main racing goal for the past weekend was to put the hammer down from the start and make sure I had nothing left in the tank by the finish line.
I was happy with the way I raced my sprint prelim, and was encouraged to be the 1st American qualifier and finish 6th overall. Most of the top female qualifiers chose to double-pole the course on skate skis, so for the heats I switched to a double pole set-up and tried to hang with the best.
Katie Ronsse gettin' in some double pole action (photo courtesy of Andy Canniff at Swix Sport).

Double-poling was faster and I had the raw speed needed, however by the end of the day my arms were shot and I faded to 11th. There were tactical and technical improvements I could've made in the heats, but it was still a respectable day of racing for me.

My teammates were again impressive and the highlights of the day included Laura Valaas's 3rd place overall (2nd American) and Anders Haugen's 2nd place (1st American) finish after a a three-way lunge to the line.
Kate Arduser, Daria Gaiazova, Laura Valaas racing to the top-10 in the 15k skate.

As a whole, our Alaskan team was perhaps the most impressive in the 10/15k night time classic race. We were feeling snappy and we were in racing in our element -- it was cold (-17C, 1F) and dark. APU had the top 3 American finishers for the women AND men's races. Becca Rorabaugh, Laura Valaas, and Kate Arduser lead the American women (and were 5th, 7th,8th overall) and James Southam, Bart Dengel, and Brent Knight lead the American men (and were 3rd, 8th and 14th overall). Young Becca Rorabaugh and the Bart-man Dengel's stunning performances gave the team ample reasons to celebrate.

A view of the cloud-covered Vernon from the hot-tub on our roof in Silverstar.

I am home in Alaska after 3.5 weeks on the road. I'm looking forward to spending some time with the family and breathing in the thick air.

Silverstar, British Columbia

Silverstar, B.C. has become one of my favorite places to hang-out as a nordic skier. There's freshly groomed skiing from our back door, the people are jovial, and Sovereign is a quintessential world class racing venue. There are superlative views as depicted by Miss Valaas's photo.

This last minute trip to race Silverstar and cancellation of our plans to stay in Utah and Whistler has destroyed our team's travel budget and left us impecunious... but we are all still happy to be here, nonetheless. The village has its own funky style. According to Jeff Ellis, our trusty Canadian teammate, there was once a rule that every new house must be painted with at least five colors.
Ronsse and Rorabaugh looking as spastic as the team's condo-- thanks to Colonel Fitz for the photo.

Due to the lack of snow the races were changed to skate, but they were still held on the tortuous World Cup courses. Personally, I was disappointed with my performance in both races because I feel like I am capable of skiing much faster. I realize that I may be flat due to the high load I carried longer into the pre-season, but I hope my sedulous training in the summer and fall will pay off. There's a plethora of things I can work to improve.

It has been encouraging to see my teammates race well. Kikkan had her best distance race on the World Cup last week and my teammates with me on the NorAm circuit have been had laudable performances.
Jeff Ellis and Anders Haugen hammering down the finishing stretch of the Men's A final (Fit's photo). Jeff finished 2nd overall and Anders was 4th (2nd in the prelim) and the only American guy in the top 10. Way to go guys!


Jeff Ellis, Laura Valaas and Anders Haugen.

And then there's Laura Valaas. If Valaas doesn't inspire you, I don't know who will. Yes, Laura won each of her sprint heats--including the final-- and made it all look easy. But results aside, Miss Valaas sets a good example of how being active in the pursuit of academic and personal goals can compliment a full-time athlete's training routine. She also has a way of encouraging me to be a better athlete and person.

I have thoroughly enjoyed this ski trip even when I am not racing my best. Part of this is because I have been able to hang out with such amazing people--like Laura, Nat from New Zealand, Heather from CXC, etc. And then there's the fun factor. There are times when I think, "if any team can have as much fun together as we do, they're going to accomplish amazing things together". I felt this way on the DU team at times too. I don't find it coincidental that during the years where our entire team could amalgamate and have a ridiculous amount of fun together were also the seasons where the team won NCAAs.
Rorabaugh and Ronsse enjoying the surroundings and each others' company on our recovery ski this morning.

Becca and I have been on a mission to practice our tele turns on every downhill we can find lately. Several of my lady teammates have been great dancing buddies on this trip as well-- whether it's at the "Moguls" pub or outside in the middle of the Silverstar village street, next to the "caution: video surveillance area" sign. Our men's team has also really bonded on this trip. They band together and think they are ingenious when they ingenuously use Montreal Steak Seasoning on EVERYTHING-- including apples. Becca Rorabaugh taking in the Canadian scenery.

In the next three days there will be three races, where it won't be aberrant for athletes to pick their two favorite events out of the three offered. Tomorrow, Becca and I will be a hortatory spectators and have extra poles for the hapless racers of the mass start skate race. On Friday there will be a classic sprint and Saturday night will feature an individual start classic race.

I hope you don't find this post to be too bombastic...with the help of Laura and Becca I have been trying to aggrandize my vocab skilz. Thanks for reading!