January 8th, 2008
I did not leave Houghton with what I wanted (tickets to Poland), but instead left with a lesson learned. I had a good skate race, feeling strong and energetic, however, this was followed by a bad classic race, feeling off-tempo and distracted. Putting my past results behind me, I entered the sprint day relaxed and ready to go for it. That is exactly what I did, qualifying 13th, a whole 19 places better than last year’s sprint. I was pleased with my result, but I still needed to perform in the heats. After the gun-shot, I started out fast and got into good position. A position that would have qualified me to World Juniors and might have advanced me to the next round, but nearing the stadium I found myself on my hands and knees with my hopes/dreams/goals thrown out the window. Gambling on a sprint is always risky business, unfortunately my week at nationals forced me to roll the dice. It was from that last day spent in Houghton Michigan that I learned how unpredictable sprints can be. Being a racer and spectator for five years I’ve seen people go down in sprints, but I never thought it would happen to me. Well, I was wrong and I had to face the tough realization that s*@t happens, especially in sprints. I came away from the week with the lesson to not judge my personal success from one race, but to look at my growth after a year of quality training and competitive racing. By Mali Noyes
