Here's Sylvan Ellofsen (an OPA teammate and friend) on our run around the Wolfneck trails near Freeport, ME. Sylvan, a Bates College grad, was the perfect travel buddy because in addition to being one of the most easy going guys out there, he introduced me to the greatest places to explore, dine, and fascinating people to meet. Once I made my way up to "the county" (thanks, Martin, for the ride!) I met up with my Alaskan teammates and we were greeted with clear cold nights and sunny days, making the perfect recipe for "crust cruising". This type of skiing gives you the freedom to skate effortlessly without a groomed track anywhere you choose.
We accompanied some local junior girls for their first crust skiing experience. Crust skiing happens to be one of my all time favorite activities, but it was my first cruising on potato fields and my first time riding a tractor mid-ski! This photo is posted for my relatives in Kansas so you know I haven't lost my farming roots...
The snow was so solid that we even did a little "crust running"....if that sport even exists. 
Becca Rorabaugh showing our confusion over this mailbox with no signs of a mailperson's tracks or an accompanying home.Another one of my favorite things about being up in the county was seeing the enthusiasm the locals had for cross country skiing, especially the young kids.
And these girls are talented! I joined up with a bunch of other elite racers who were there to compete and be an instructor/mentor for another very successful "Fast and Female" event. 
Here we are practicing a proper arrow dynamic tuck before going down a hill and through some tunnels (thanks to MWSC for the pictures). There were some very creative stations-- the homemade tails for the tail tag game and the speed guns for measuring our downhill speed were used in activities that I hope to try with the AK juniors next winter.
A huge thanks to everyone who donated their time and money to make this event so successful-- especially Eileen Carey and crew for organizing the event, and to Becky and Reno Dupree-- APU masters and former county residents-- for their financial donation to make it possible for over 120 young girls to have a memorable day skiing. One girl told me that it was her "favorite day in the whole world!"
On the competition side of things the racing went well. I was mentally excited to push myself in the racing and finished in the top-15 in each event that was stacked with the top skiers and biathletes, including the athletes who were fresh off the Olympics. For the mass start classic race we raced on relatively icy conditions on a narrow, curvy and fast course, so expectedly there was plenty of carnaige and tangle-ups in the pack. It was important to be very agile on skis to avoid crashing. I think that spending time on snow through the summer months, having experience in road racing (on bikes), and the balance and agility practice I have done with unicycling, slack lining, and agility ladders has helped my ski skills significantly because I almost always fare well in mass start races. In the sprint I made it past the quarter and semi finals and finished 5th place overall in the women's A-final. The skate hill climb race up the alpine hill was the last race of the season, and was a pursuit style start. Despite feeling sluggish in the warm-up my body was comfortable with race pace and I felt strong during the majority of the climb. 
Here's Lars Flora (APU teammate) hanging onto Ivan Babikov (CAN National team) who is the best in the world at this event (as Tour de Ski World Cup winner). These guys are impressive and it was exciting to watch them climb and pick up a few technical tips before we went out on course.If you've raced before, you probably are familiar with the feeling of accomplishment and satisfaction after you've pushed yourself to the best of your ability. This feeling was amplified after the final race because it also signified the last race of the past 11 months focused training for this particular 4.5 month season and it was the end of 2 months since my last time home! Before actually getting home I did have 23 hours of airport time to get home to AK, which was preceded by a drive from the county and night in a Quebec City hostel.
Here's Brooke Gosling of the Alberta World Cup Academy in front of "the wall" in the old part of Quebec City. Quebec was magnifique-- I loved checking out the chateaus, eating in the creperies, and taking in the French-Canadian culture.Travelling and racing around the North American and European continents has been a challenging and rewarding journey. I could not have done it without the support of my sponsors, community, coaches, wax techs, teammates, and friends. Thank you for making my dreams become a reality.
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