Wow, it seems as though quite a lot has happened since my last update at US National Championships!
The biggest news is that I will get to become a student at University of Utah's doctorate of Physical Therapy program, which is my top choice for grad school! I will begin the 3 year program in May and I am psyched!
I realize an update is long-overdue, but Im going to touch on some of the highlights from the past 5 weeks:
Spending time with my teammates and getting to see them dominate the racing scene! Above a number of us are with Betty, our B&B host in Maine.
Here's Fitz, Holly, and Morgan after their Supertour podium sweep the former Olympic ski jumping complex in Lake Placid, NY.
Discovering teammate Kikkan Randall climbed to the top of the overall World Cup Sprint standings! (Associated Press photo).
Getting to see the enthusiasm from the skiing community at the Fast and Female event in Maine. I joined many of the nations top female racers after US National Championships to volunteer-coach the up an coming skiers of the east coast.
In addition to skiing, doing Zumba, yoga, eating, and speaking with the girls in the full-day event I enjoyed the unexpected moments, such as:
Me: "Hi, I'm Katie. What's your name?
Nina: "Nina"
Me: "Did you know that there was an American Olympic xc skier named Nina too?"
Nina: "Yeah... I'm named after her. She won US National Championships here the day before I was born."
It is pretty awesome to see such an enthusiastic skiing culture all over the country. I also enjoyed hearing comments like, "That 4 hour drive this morning was so worth it for getting to be here!"
Here I am signing autographs. There were plenty of shirts and posters to go around, so we had happily sore hands from signing those by the time the day was over. Thanks to all the sponsors and organizers (especially NENSA's Abby Weissman) for making the event happen!
After my interviews in Utah getting to go on the "Interconnect" Ski Utah Tour with Deb Lovci (one of my generous hosts) and Chrispi as our guides. Pictured above is Morgan, myself, and Mindy... Check this out if you're in Utah-- it's an incredible tour that connects 6 resorts in one day, starting in Deer Valley and finishing in Snowbird down near Salt Lake.
Visiting my boyfriend Justin and backcountry skiing among the highest mountains in Southern California...
while hooting, hollering, and laughing all along the way with Morgan and Stefanie.
Racing in the co-ed Team Sprints in down town Sun Valley, Idaho.
I paired up with Mikey Sinnott (#1), who may be Sun Valley's Olympic Development Team (a different club team), but we have grown up racing and traveling abroad to represent the USA on J1 Scandinavian Cup trips, World Junior Championships or European Cups for more than a decade! (Geez, Im only 25 but am starting to sound old...)
It was very fun to race a city sprint again, with live music, fire pits, and lots of people cheering!! Thanks to Joshua Wells for taking all these city sprint photos!
After the preliminary races, we had the "finals", where each of us raced a fast 1k loop 3x. The guys started us off and Mikey tagged off to me into a perfect position.
The ladies got to take the final glory lap, where the win was $1,000! Here I am getting to bring in the win for our duo!
A few days later I got the chance to participate in the 32k Boulder Mountain Tour, the big marathon ski race for this region (Photo Credit Ian Harvey). Congratulations to Sylvan Ellofsen and Evelyn Dong for their stellar performances!
After being on the road for all but a week since mid-November, I am thoroughly enjoying being HOME! I'm coaching as much as I can, preparing to move to Utah, and trying out the alternate varieties of Atomic skis....
It has been fun and refreshing to shift gears and shift my energy, time, and focus on to challenging new tasks and projects. I hope to update with a couple of these projects as they work themselves into fruition (hopefully) in the coming months!
THANK YOU to sponsors, family, fans, and friends who have given me constant support to make the pursuit of my skiing goals a reality. Also, thank you to those of you who have helped prepare for a future as a health care provider.
Until next time,
Katie
