Frigid weekend

Races in the Twin Cities over the weekend.
(Photos courtesy of skinnyski.com)
Dropped Emma off at Grandmas in Isanti and went down to my sister Sarahs for the weekend.
Out for mexican at Pepitos in Minneapolis family owned DELICIOUS.

-9 when i arrived at Battle Creek Sat mornin. It did not seem to stop the crazy bunch of skiers braving the cold! Mens race off-

After being out with a chest cold for 2 weeks before Xmas i was just going to ease into it and use it for training. (That and classic skiing needs the time put in)
The course was very technical with shallow tracks and icy...Also crazy downhills!

Lined up after the men took off and there were about 50 of us. Nice crash as we took off that took out the row of women ahead and next to me. I somehow managed to avoid that. After almost 1K of winding hairpin turns

 I could sorta 'settle in' I did not have the best kick at warmup so I added VR30 over my polar. It seemed to do the trick and i had o.k. kick for the first lap.(147)

At the end of lap one and working my way through some of the straggling men I came to the nasty downhill. A man asked if I wanted to pass him and when I said no he veered right into me and took me out nicely! I flew up and landed on my hip - scrambled up and thought of taking it very cautiously on the way down.
There was so much crashing...it was more like a short track xcountry race! I saw poles,bindings,pole straps.....High speed havoc!

The second lap I felt good but lost all kick. I was with 3 other ladies and I did not want them to know that and tried to do my best to use good technique and just herring boned every hill.
I would double pole and get by them and they would pass me on the hills , then i would get by them going down and we would just go back and forth. It was frustrating!

With the race being a Minnesota Skinny SkiSeries the competition was strong and fast. You have like 8 races to choose from and they do age indexed time and overall man and women win a trip to
At the end of the day I was in 23rd and o.k. with it considering.
Jack had planned to take Summer to Marshall sprints in Duluth Sat then head down to do the skate portion of the TC championships Sunday. Marshall was cancelled due to cold weather so he signed Summer up for the highschool race and they were on there way.

I went out to warm up it was like -2 and race was a noon start.Oh Boy was I sore from the race the day before! My hip was so tight going up hills and was cramping... it did not help I did not eat all day Sat! too busy visiting etc. did not eat til  soup at 10 pm. I was not sure how the body would react to 15K skate in 4-5 degrees! I ran into Summer and Jack who drove down after the night at Grandmas. Summer being one of the last ones out cuz she was only a 1 day racer. She would have to be on her own. Marissa Y was the top highschool skier out there and she is strong at JO races in Summers J1 class.
Well, I scrambled to find food and ate a banana and drank alot of water Summer gave me last minute race tips and I hope they would come into play!

Sunday it was the second half of your race and because I was 23rd i went out my time back from the other ladies..i had a lady 15 seconds in front of me and thought I would reel her in by the first K. I also had 2 behind me 7 seconds so i had to keep alert.
It was so fun on Sunday. Crisp cold sunshine and now after being there Sat i met up with all my ski friends and recognized the 'big' names going out ahead of me. Also helped that I did not kill myself the first 3 K and felt better. (Summers strategy for me)

Summer heading out

I did not find any pics of Jack so i thought I'd throw this one in there....

Yeah pretty much you don't feel it at the time but these falls can screw up your shoulders and cause pain for days!

I passed girls and kept within limits and came out 17th overall. Good enough for 4th in 40-49
Jack ending in 87th in a field of crazy competitive men!(He also just finished up with the chest cold and used it as training)
Summer took the overall Highschool race by 2 seconds.
Chatted with friends and warmed up! Then time to head back up north where the REAL skiers live(in frigid freezing temps!!)
Nice to get out and I don't think we would have skied that long or raced for that matter if we stayed home...Sunshine and calm winds made it bearable.
Picked up Emma at Granny's and visited a few minutes also saw Emmas new outfit her and Grandma bought. Time to head out and driving home to -20 degrees.