This past week I traveled to Houghton, MI to race at nationals.  This was the biggest race of season so far, and unfortunately  it turned out to be something of a disaster.
Upon arriving to Houghton I was full of energy and drive.  The Scandinavian Cup trip has been a goal of mine that I have been working towards for quite a while.  This year I am a first year J1, but throughout the fall and early winter I have passed all of my set goals with flying colors, skiing far faster than I expected. My fitness this year has been a culmination of an awesome summer, better fall, and even better early winter of training.  Secondly, last time I had been in Houghton was for the Junior Olympics in 2006, as a first year J2.  That year I fell incredibly ill, and raced horribly.  Perhaps the worst part was spending the night of the dance in my boxers and a puffy jacket (fever) watching bad movies on TV, with Mikey Matteson.  This was however, an excellent bonding experience with one of my closest friends Mikey, so that was nice.

The Sun Valley team arrived in Houghton at about 2 am on the 29th.  We flew  into Hancock and all of us lost our duffel bags.  I thought this was sweet actually.  I got to witness Reid and Abi skiing in jeans, and it was very humbling to ski two days in Noah Hoffman’s boots that were 2 sizes too small, and Julia Bowman’s jacket, that fit me in a very revealing way.

All this behind me I still had good energy and was ready to go fast!  That is when disaster struck.  I woke up the night before the skate 10k, at 2 am, with a sore throat.  I could not believe it.  I had gone four months without illness, and it was hitting me now!  In fact I had been sick the week before we left, and this felt cruel.  Two weeks and two illnesses.  My skate turned out to be a disaster.  Not only was I sick, but I start in about 3 in of powder.  I felt like I was skiing fast.  I caught at least five people, but as Rick Kapala put it, “There were two races that day. In the blizzard and out”  The day before the classic race I didn’t ski.  I had little appetite and felt feverish.  It was unclear whether or not I would race.  I raced.  The classic race went alright.  I skied early in the morning, started off fast and held it.  I actually skied two even laps.  I turned out 6th JI which I felt pretty good about.  It was however, frustrating.  Most people thought that I had skied a super good race, and I actually felt like that is about how fast I ski when I am not feeling well.  The sprint did not go well, and just like that, the Scando Trip, that I was so ready to earn was gone.  Later that week I explained to Rick that I was not mad that I did not make the team, I was angry that I did not have a fair chance.

Since, so many people have told me that it happens, as Mali wrote, but I am tired of it.  This summer I was racing at Junior Nationals in the road race.  I had been in the saddle for 2 1/2 hours and raced 70 miles of one of the hardest courses I have ever done.  Out of a hundred kids, I was in the group of the Top Ten.  Perfect position.  On the final climb 2k from the finish my chain broke.  I had people tell me then, that that was the name of the game, but it still does not make it feel alright.

This is however, the last I will think of Houghton.  From here I move on and look forward to what is going to be my best season yet.  Below are some pics from an early season race.  I am in a New England suit.  No offense to New England, but this is because it was “Heinous Suit Day”.

Thanks.

Pics from Scott  Krankala-scandoscott at gmail.com

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 9th, 2008 at 10:06 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.