Czech and Poland

After a training block over Christmas I got back into the racing mode with two weekends of World Cups in the Czech Republic and Poland.  It is so fun to be racing again and with each race start, each sprint round, each hill and kilometer that I ski, I'm feeling better and better so I'm very excited with what is to come!  It was a slow start with a horrendous sprint qualifier in the Czech Republic but then everything went up from there.  Sophie and I improved our classic team sprint result moving up from 8th in Asiago in December to 6th in Nove Mesto.  Then in Poland we had five US ladies in the top 15 of the freestyle sprint!  13th was my best skate sprint this season so I'm psyched with that improvement.  Then on Sunday I had my first top 10 distance result finishing 9th in the 10km classic mass start!  The best part was that my parents were there to see it.  They made a quick trip to Poland but their hugs and cheers were exactly what I needed after a bout of homesickness had set in.  Their support is incredible and I loved spending time with them in the middle of the winter.  Here are some pictures of the weekend.

The girls team walking around Nove Mesto, Czech

A church in the town square

Thing 1 and Thing 2 ready for the Classic team sprint.

We have an awesome team of techs, coaches, and athletes working hard, cheering each other on, and having fun racing on the World Cup together

A stop on our drive from Nove Mesto to Poland.  Without a map or a GPS and we had a few wrong turns but it added to the adventure

So incredible to have my favorite cheers on the World Cup with me

Not much snow in Poland

Head down and focused before the start of the sprint

Racing with some Russians, a German, and a Swiss skier

Go Team USA!

Justyna will always be queen in Poland