This week started very well.  I was feeling good and enjoying some great classic skiing.  Tuesday the 10k classic did not go so well for me.  I started fast, or at least I though so, but Bryan Cook caught me about 4k into the race.  I skied with him for sometime before I feel off with a little ways to go.  I didn’t know why I had skied poorly but the next day I woke up with a sore throat and slight chills.  This was bad news because I had a team sprint that night with my teammate, Brian Gregg.  I decided to start and hope I would feel better during the race.  I felt pretty well in the semi-final and we won our semi.  We started the final a half hour later and it was going very well until a Canadian skier took me down in one of the corners.  We still had a good result finishing 6th overall but I am very confident Brian and I would have had a good shot of finishing on the podium if we didn’t spend the rest of the race chasing skiers from behind.

The morning after the team sprint I felt very tired so on Friday(today) I am going to sit out the 30k pursuit race and hopefully can feel better for the 50k classic on Sunday.

Hopefully I can fly home Monday,volcano Mt. Redoubt has been blowing up all week long and many flights have been canned.  At least we are not getting any ash in Fairbanks.

When I got off the plane in Fairbanks a few days ago I was greeted with winter again.  The temp was right around -10F.  It has warmed since I arrived but the mornings are still below zero.  Classic skiing has been great and easy waxing.  I tried skate skiing yesterday and itwas very slow going.   Today I am taking a break and letting my classic muscles recover a bit.  Tuesday is the first race, 10k classic and Wednesday is a freestyle team sprint.  Both races should be fun and have start times between 5-7pm at night.  I am trying to adapt to the schedule now by staying up late, sleeping in and skiing during the late afternoon… it feels like I am back in college again.  I am hopeful the races go well here… the competition should be strong with the top US and Canadian racers showing.  This time of year it is always interesting to see who still has race fitness after 4+ months of racing and traveling.  Two weeks ago I felt good in Canada so hopefully I feel good this upcoming week.

Good news… I got my computer to work again so I can post pics and updates again!

I just got back from Canada.   The 50k was a tough race, I hung in for 40k and then my skis started to slow in the quick warm up and I started to fade.  US team member Noah Hoffman was a hammer all week long in Canada and broke the race apart with 10ish km to go.  I finished 11th, 3rd American in the .  My results for the week were good but I was hoping for outstanding.  I had some fun and learned some things and know I am getting on a plane headed for Fairbanks, AK.  This will be my last race series of the season.  I’ll update again from Alaska.

Yes, I am excited to race a long one tomorrow.  50k freestyle in near 50F temps.  No hat weather has been the norm this weekend in Ontario.  Yesterday I did the classic sprint race as a warm up for the marathon.  I qualified which is always the goal for me… finished 28th, not great but a nice tune-up for the skate race tomorrow.  I’ll update after the race if i can; my computer is not doing so well lately.

I’ll be carbo-loading the rest of the day.

FYI… the birkie race video is now released; www.birkievideo.com