January Training Block/VT Time

Berlin Elementary Winter Carnival!

Some of the kids and I after the Berlin Elementary School Winter Carnival. Winter Carnivals are a really neat thing that some of the schools around here are doing. Kids head outdoors and learn and participate in different activities for a couple hours in the afternoon. There are different stations, cross country skiing, sledding, snow sculpting, and snowshoeing, and each kid gets to try out all of them by the end of the series of carnivals. Kids get to try out new things, see if any strike an immediate interest, play outside with their friends and enjoy winter and being healthy together. I was super stoked to be a part of one day of it. Thanks Berlin!

Berlin Elementary student enjoying the time outdoors and on skis!

U-32 Night Sprints!

I was also invited to participate in some night sprints at my old high school, U-32, where nordic skiing has really taken off. Mark Chaplin and Kathy Topping, the same coaches who coached me for cross country running in the fall and track in the spring, have done an amazing job grooming fun trails (about 8K) and striking up an interest in the community towards nordic skiing. The team is huge and filled with kids who are excited to be a part of a supportive team and of course to be skiing around in the cold dark in spandex suits! We are so weird. U-32 ran a great event of night sprints that had a good turnout of kids from other area schools and clubs. I was pumped to get the invite and had a blast skiing around the 1k loop. It was awesome. Thanks for a great event Mark and Kathy and keep up your great spirits U-32 Raiders!

And my babysitter JoJo came to surprise me too!!!

HOME!

I have been home in Vermont for a good 5 weeks now, with a week spent at US Nationals in Rumford, Maine. Its been great to have a solid training block and be home in Vermont with my family and such great snow. I got a cold after nationals and have had time to recover from that, raced the Colby Carnival and got to catch up and stay with some long time friends the Poole's and race up in Canada this past weekend as well. I'm ready to be hitting the road now though, as it's mid-race season and being home gets a bit itchy after a while. I am heading to Oslo now for a few days of training on the World Championship courses, then we will drive up to Beitostolen, Norway for some Scandinavian cups next weekend. After that we have one World Cup weekend in Drammen, Norway and then back to Oslo for the World Championships. This is going to be a seriously fun event and a huge deal over in Norway, as they are expecting between 200 and 300 thousand fans!

My dad on a ski with my dog Charley. Super great snow in VT these days, and it seems to just keep dumping. Awesome.

My Mom, my dog Charley and I went for a little classic tour in the snow this morning before I headed to the airport to catch a flight to Newark, NJ and then Oslo, Norway. Currently I'm still in Burlington, but getting out looks good, so I'm keeping my fingers uncrossed because I have yet to cross them and things are going well.

My mom and Charley. The snow is so light and perfect and the woods are really beautiful. Super great to be able to just walk out the door of our house and ski. So fun.

I headed up to Orford, Quebec this past weekend to do a mini-tour race series. Orford has awesome trails and I highly suggest checking it out if you haven't been there and are looking for a new place to ski. Its really pretty, has great grooming and what seems to be an endless trail system. Thanks to all the race organizers for their work on putting the races on. It was really fun to be a part of.

Updates to come again more frequently!! Stay tuned.

Friends of Liz

There is also a new button added to my blog site directly to the right that has the word Donate on it. This is the first step in a project called Friends of Liz, which the hat company, SKIDA is helping me with. We have come up with a hat, which is in production now, that will be my design and have a patch on it with the Friends of Liz Logo on it. This should be up and running with pictures of the hat over the coming weeks, so stay posted, and again, thanks for all you already do to support me.

Check out Skidasport.com for cool hats, bandanas, neck warmers and headbands!

US NATIONALS

US Nationals in Rumford, Maine just ended and it was a great event. I traveled to the event with my old club, Burke Mountain Academy, and coaches Pete Phillips and Matt Johnson were my wax techs and support squad for the week. It was great to be back with Burke and spend some time getting to know the athletes on the team. I will be traveling with Burke to Sun Valley for US Distance Nationals and Spring series at the end of March and am already looking forward to it. The racing went well, though I did not have my best showing in the 10k classic, the 20k skate the next day gave me a chance to redeem myself and I was really happy with my effort that day. The sprint on Saturday went better than expected, finishing 7th at the end of the day, which I think is my best Nationals sprint result ever. I am home now battling a cold, which will have me missing the Supertour in Lake Placid this Friday and Saturday, but I can't really complain as this is about as good a time as any to get sick. I will be home training until February 1st when I head to Europe.

Here are a few pictures from the week, courtesy of Ian Harvey and John Farra and a video clip that was taken.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0cSeeZsTRyE

Me, racing the 20K skate race on Thursday.

Noah Hoffman leading a train of the ultimate US National Champion this day, Lars Flora and CXC's Brian Greg who finished the day in a strong 6th.

Women's Podium from 20K Skate

Thanks to all my supporters and sponsors. This is a long road, full of bumps, holes and flying saucers. Avoiding what you can is only part of the game. Sickness, injury, fatigue, mental burnout, these happen in a career to most. Getting back on your feet, jumping into the air and becoming better than you were before the crash, that's the real game, and it's always the support of fans, friends, and family that make your brain know it's possible.

10K classic race. The volunteers and race officials did a great job pulling these races off, given the amount of snow they had to work with. To be honest, when I showed up the day before this race to check out the trails and help shovel, I didn't think there would be any way they could put a race on the following day, especially a race with 600 athletes competing. But they did, and it was good. Thanks a lot to all who helped get this event off the ground.

Highland cows on the way to Trapp Family Lodge (www.trappfamilylodge.com) for a ski pre-nationals. Beautiful place, Vermont is.

Now home for 3 weeks to eat home cooked meals, train hard and well and get ready for the rest of the season. Pumped.