I know you are all saying a hearty, ‘Welcome back to the blogosphere land, Liz” to me, as it has been some time since I last updated this page I used to type on every Monday. There has been a lot going on, it turns out, and sometimes while I am in the moment, I find it hard to reflect and write about it all. But now, I have had sufficient enough time to digest it all, so I am out of excuses and owe you all an update. You have, after all, waited very patiently.
10k podium from Worlds: Jessie, Charlotte and Caitlin! It was an incredible day with two US girls on the podium and 4 in the top 15, what a day! Making history!
Soph and me after the relay.
Our 4x5k relay team: Jessie, Me, Sadie and Rosie
Falun sunset
Celebratory champagne toasts after the 10k!
Andy, Kikkan and Peter, our beloved wax tech who has been with us for 9 years and will be moving on from the ski world for a new job that will keep him closer to home and breathing far fewer wax fumes. But, Peter, you will be incredibly missed.
Rosie and Eli Brown, one of our volunteer wax techs for the week of World Champs.
We have had an awesome crew of people with us for Worlds. Here is one of them, Dakota Blackhorse-Von-Jess who brings an incredible amount of energy and love wherever he goes. It's been a joy to have him on the road with us for the last month. And of course Sadie and Ida too!
Matt Gelso is another who always has a nice word to share and a laugh to be heard.
Kyle Bratrud joined us for the week also and was so into it all. His calm presence, but psyched personality was fun to have with us.
Sim and Soph
Me, Oleg, Soph and Toque (one of our long time volunteer techs). Oleg is Soph and my tech and he is one of the more uniquely special dudes you will ever meet with a heart the size of a mountain.
Team photo from Ostersund, going back in time a bit.
Me and my Pops.
Audi had some cars that they were giving rides to athletes on the ice track, so a bunch of us jumped in for a ride around the track. Pretty fun.
Smiley Andy.
A dinner out of the hotel in the farmhouse Andy, Soph and my parents rented together at World Champs.
After the championships my parents and I went to Stockholm for two nights and got to check out the city on foot. We walked a lot and my favorite part of the city was for sure the Vasa museum. It was an old viking ship built in 1628 that sailed 1500 meters out of the Stockholm harbor and sunk. It sat under water for 300 years until it was discovered and salvaged and now is housed in a museum in the city.
It was incredible to see such an incredible work of art that is so well intact after being underwater for so long. It was really incredible to see and read about the story of her voyage.
My parents on the palace steps.
The last week has been spent in Lahti and a small town called Runni, Finland, where Jessie and I did a show race, which was really fun, before traveling to Oslo two days ago. It was nice to race a non World Cup for the first time this season and it felt like a mini vacation for the two nights we were gone.
The track went around the hotel and was 1.2k long. Double poling was the name of the game, so we competed in a 4.6k double pole race that night. It was super fun.
Me, Jessie and Maurice Magnificat with long time skiing legend Juha Mieto. He is a giant, and super friendly. Really cool to meet him.
Now we are in Oslo getting ready for our last World Cup race of the season, the 30k Holmenkollen. It turns out some of the biggest crowds all year and the weather this year looks to be spectacular spring conditions. It's sunny and warm, and the Vitamin D is just feeling so good. Happy times here in Norway, for sure.
Lina and John Farra met up with us for a visit. John used to be our nordic director and Lina is his 13 year old daughter who is attending the Winter School this year in Park City, which means she will go to school in the summer and have the winters off to adventure and ski! She is a really impressive skier, and a super self motivated and wonderful individual. It was a joy to have them both around the last few days.
Our skiing group yesterday. Rosie, me, Lina and Jessie.
Peter and Gus both have decided to move on to other parts of life after this season and they will be sorely missed. Gus is off to attend BU for his MBA and Peter has a new job as a Project Manager for ABB, a multinational corporation. Really cool opportunity, but we will miss him dearly.
Peter and I
Oslo's roller ski generation wall is always incredible to me. I think our skis are hard to maneuver now? Whew. Good thing I didn't ski back then!
Me, our volunteer doc for the week, Heather Chichanowski and Sadie.
Yesterday was quite warm and so what did we do? Yeah, we took a swim and soaked in the rays on the beach outside our hotel.
I feel like a new person. The sun is an incredible happy drug and the cold water is such a shock.
