I’ve been home for a few days after US Nationals concluded with the Classic Sprint race.

http://fasterskier.com/2010/01/us-nationals-sprint-heats-photos/

I placed 15th overall as I finished 3rd in my quarter and did not have a low enough bib number to move on as a lucky-loser into the semi-finals.  I was a little bummed as I was skiing well and felt great; plus I had some really fast skis.  15th is still my highest placing in a US Nationals sprint race so I am happy about that… plus, I scored enough distance points to make the World Cup Team.  The Olympic Team will be named Jan. 19th.  It’s looking a bit tighter on making that team.

Nice job again for CXC.  The women all did well and the boys… Cook 3rd, Gregg 5th, Tad 7th!  I was having a rough start to the 30km as I waxed too long and was a bit draggy but the skis kicked really well.  About 8-9km into the race I was starting to feel good, ski well and catch people that went out too hard.  Just about this moment I was climbing up a steep short hill and my ski broke in half.  I got up and immediately started to look for a replacement.  Unfortunately, I was on a very remote part of the course.  It took me a km or two before I was able to get another ski.  By this point I had already lost much time and my chances of placing well were over.  Instead of quitting I decided to finish the race because I have never quit a ski race and didn’t want to start yesterday.

I am excited to race the classic sprint tomorrow but I am also very sad about breaking my best pair of classic skis I’ve ever owned.

Yesterday was the men’s 15km Freestyle race.  I had a very solid result with a 4th place finish.  Results w/splits below.  CXC’s Tad Elliott had the race of his life and finished less than a 1/2minute behind World Cup star Kris Freeman… awesome!  I started fairly conservative with the hope I could really wind in up in the last half of the race although the slowing snow conditions made it tough to maintain speed (check the splits, all the men got slower every lap).  I gave everything I had and then some.  My head felt like it was going to explode and I felt nauseous all afternoon yesterday.  I could have gone harder out of the start but I don’t know if I could have held on.  The points from the race were pretty good for me but I needed to be a bit closer to Freeman time-wise.  Tomorrow is a 30km mass start classic race and I am excited to see if I can hang.  Classic os not my strength but I work on it a bunch during the off-season.

http://www.anchoragenordicski.com/nationals10/results/1_4_10/results_with_splits_for_us_nationals_interval_start_100104.pdf

Thanks Ian and Toko for another great pic.

Thank you to Toko’s Ian Harvey for taking some awesome pictures at yesterdays nationals skate sprint.   To see more and to get the full Toko wax report click below.

http://fasterskier.com/2010/01/toko-wax-report-and-photos-from-us-nationals/