Getting up to Speed...

I suppose its time to put up a blog post when I hear through my teammate that a junior skier approached her saying, "Katie hasn't updated her blog since November 25th! Tell her she needs to post again soon!"

A Silver Star in Silver Star, BC. An HBrooks photo.

Sometimes I feel as though there's so much higher-quality ski-racing media out there, so I push posting to the back-burner. But when I get positive feedback from others it rekindles my desire to post! As long as aspiring racers are excited to hear what I have to say and my friends and family enjoy hearing about my experiences, I will maintain this blog.

So, without further adieu, here's an update to fill you in on the highlights from the past month....

Here's the our team that was fortunate enough to spend almost 2 weeks training and racing in Silver Star, BC. Within the month of living together "on the road" there was been no shortage of good times...

And great racing too! As a team the athletes in the blue suits have been turning some heads.

Here's a shot from the start of the women's B-final at the Silver Star NorAms. We had three APU ladies in the heat-- Fitz, Wrecka, and myself-- going up against the Canadians. In the women's A-Final, we had Sadie, Holly, and Morgan representing in 2nd, 4th, and 6th!

Morgan Smyth. Rob Whitney photo.

From Silverstar we traveled to Rossland, BC to race in the 3-day mini-tour. The racing fields were small but stacked, since it served the Canadian World Championship Sprint Trials. The winner of the sprint finals on both the mens and womens side would secure their spot to race at World Championships in Oslo in February. Much of the American Supertour field also followed the circuit to these trials, because it was the best nordic competition on North American soil at the time. I think the more the top skiers in the US and Canada can challenge each other, the better we will become.

Here I am in the prelim. Thanks to Rob Whitney for all the great ski photos and cheering.

Here is the stacked quarterfinal I raced in with Taz (former National Champion), Britney Webser (2010 Olympian), Jennie Bender (3rd in Silver Star NorAm the week prior), Myself, Sadie Bjornsen (eventual race winner), and Caitlin Compton (2010 Olympian) L-R respectively. I was glad I could to advance to the next heat!

Here's my biggest fan out on course. After taking the Part-2 National Dental Board Exams early, Justin flew to Seattle, drove 7hrs through much of the night to get to the race venue, slept for a couple hours in the car at the trailhead parking lot, and was ready to enthusiastically cheer his lungs out for all 3 races. He also gave me some great tactical advice after watching all the sprint heats, which helped me win in the B-final.

Here are Casey and Erik, our coaches who are still smiling after many sleepless nights of waxing and testing our fleets of skis all month long. You wont find any harder working coaches out there.

After being on the road for quite some time, I was excited to get some R&R at home in Alaska. I was only home for a week, but couldn't have asked for a better break.

My brother, Nathan, also made it home for Christmas. Here we are cutting down our Christmas tree from my parents' backyard.

Jus and I after riding on the on our borrowed "fatbacks". The -12F temps resulted in some frosty eyelashes! I was blown away with how easy and fun it was to maneuver the snowy single track trails. I will always love skiing more than anything, but winter riding is an awesome way to mix things up and have a new mode of exploring and experiencing other trails! I am already hooked...

Nathan excited to slide tackle the 'flats.

My favorite playground will always be the mudflats behind my parents' house...

Here I am surrounded two of my favorite guys (Nathan and Justin), two of my favorite dogs (Coda and Bently), and two of my favorite features (the ocean and mountains).

Before too long, I re-packed my bags for the next racing tour, which will be at least a month long. We are staying at a beautiful farm house in "South Paris, Maine", which is about 50min from the US National Championship courses in Rumford. There will be many more updates to come, but for now I will tell you the dollar stores are awesome (we dont have those in AK) and I will leave you with this:

Happy New Year from our team at US Nationals!

That should "bring you up to speed" to where I am at right now. Im working on bringing myself up to speed as well. I've been doing some short speeds at sea level, will get a good night sleep on this New Years eve, do a solid "race-prep" workout tomorrow, and be ready to race fast in the US National Championship 1.3k Sprint on Sunday!

Check back for more updates! Good night and all the best for 2011,

Katie