"Skijoring with Satchel"
February 2014 in Brimley, MI
at my uncle Pat Egan's house on Lake Superior
The end of March marked the end of the racing season and the beginning of vacation! After a week in the San Francisco Bay area visiting friends and family, I am now home in Maine relaxing and catching up on things like uploading the above video from February.
After Biathlon Nationals wrapped up in mid-March, I flew to Anchorage, Alaska with a group of eight GRP skiers for Super Tour Finals. I was very excited to compete at STF for two reasons: 1) Biathlon nationals did not go quite as well as I had hoped, so I was happy to have another chance at ending my season on a better note, and 2) Having sat out of the Super Tour this year in order to focus on biathlon racing, I was thrilled to have a chance to compete with all the best domestic skiers again.
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| I got 2nd place in all 3 races at Biathlon Nationals. |
There was not a cloud in the ski the entire time we were in Anchorage. It looked like this:
All my races at STF were solid, with my best performance coming in the 4x5km relay. It was the first time I've competed in a relay since college, and it was a welcome break from individual competition. I loved being able to compete with my teammates instead of against them! The format was mixed gender and technique; on my team Alex Schulz classic skied to start us off, then Liz Guiney classic skied, and then Andrew Dougherty and I skated. I had the 6th fastest split for the fourth relay leg. Another achievement for the week was surviving the 30k classic mass start (a perennial struggle-fest for me), despite the fact that it was my only classic race over 1km this entie winter. Not surprisingly I suffered a major muscular crisis about 4k into the first lap, but managed to recover just in time to pick up the pace on my last lap and avoid repeating my "reverse podium"finish from last year. Then I and my leg muscles enjoyed the men's 50k race from the comfort of the trailside hot tub (purely therapeutic).
The STF trip was a perfect way to bring the season to a close. My visit to California on the way back East was also pretty nice...
...But nothing beats being home! Check back soon for an update on my plans for the coming year. Thanks for reading.
