Hey guys,

Winter in Sun Valley continues to go well. So far, as a team, our season has been excellent. Personally, I feel great. I am really excited for Junior Nationals in Anchorage, AK, and I have more energy going in to them this year, that any year before. I raced well last week in McCall, and I think the momentum is going to carry over well. Hope everybody is doing well!!  Here is a video from Saturday.

As I stand in the international terminal in Calgary I realize that at the beginning of this year, I had no idea that I would be going to a World Cup.  I had not even dreamed of it.  And all the way up to senior nationals I didn’t even think it was a possibility.  Now here I was in Canada for the 2008 World Cup.  Chris Mallory and I had flown from the Super Qualifier in Salt Lake and Colin Rodgers picked us up and drove us to the race venue in Canmore.  

Sorry for the delayed post, but I do have a great excuse.  It all started when my laptop DC power outlet started glitching 3 weeks ago.  I was just about to leave for the World Cup in Canmore and my computer charger stopped working.  Now I’m not talking about semi broken, it was beyond repair.  I would know, because I have been constantly Jerry-Rigging/fixing the charger for the last year and a half, and it doesn’t help when you computer is 8 years old.    Anyway, a day or two before I was leaving for Canmore my computer stopped working and I decided that the only way to fix it this time was to take it completely apart, find all the faulty pieces, and replace them.  So my excuse for the delayed post would be that my computer was in about 150 pieces and I was waiting for the replacement parts in the hope that I would be able to put it all back together and still have it all working.  Fortunately it is now fixed . . .   

This past weekend I raced in the longest race that I’ve ever done.  I was nervous going into the Boulder Mountain Tour.  Not only is it three times longer than the most I’ve ever raced, but it is held in my home town.  Being a Nordic skier growing up in Sun Valley it was a race that I always wanted to compete in, but was always busy with other, more important races.  Finally old enough and free of JN qualifiers, I would get to race the Boulder, providing me with a time to tell people when asked about it (as it was commonly assumed that I had raced) and an opportunity to compete in my first marathon.