March 22nd, 2008
I spent the day before leaving for Anchorage in the bathroom with the flu. Fortunately my mom helped me pack; I laid in bed and directed her on what I needed and were to find it. I really appreciated it, thank you mom, if it was not for your help, packing would have been pure torture and I probably would have lost energy and only grabbed the few essentials. Though I had a stomach pain, a head ache, and a soar shoulder (from laying on the bathroom floor), I had to be happy that I hadn’t gotten a cold instead and that I hadn’t been plagued by the bug during my travels.
Being in Alaska was fun. Not only did I get to see a new state, but I got to see all my Intermountain team mates and other fellow racers. We started the week off strong with a good name game (even though we only learned half the teams’names). The name game consists of bringing one person up at a time, learning their name and pretty much trying to embarrass them in any way possible.
The week of racing started off with the classic sprints. I was really tired, most likely from loosing most of energy prior to travel, and was grateful each time I managed to advance. Throughout the day I focused on drinking my gatorade, eating my gummy bears, and downing anything else that would give me extra energy. (Thanks to Ian, I got a caffeine shot). All that stuff must of worked cause each round I was a little faster off the line, felt a little stronger, and recovered a little quicker. By the finals I was feeling like myself and was able to be competitive and scratch a good result. Even though my highest result came later in the week, I was happiest with my sprint because I did really well compared to how I felt.
The rest of my races went well, making it my best performance at Junior Nationals.
