That Familiar Burn: Colorado

is really really nice. The weather has been amazing, 45-50 and sunny. Big mountains all around, the only bad thing so far is the fact that we are racing at 8,720 feet. A good 8000 feet higher than Olaf. Needless to say I can feel the altitude quite handily. Although I feel a lot better than I thought I was going to. Anyways, on to the races...
Sprint (super long)
A normal sprint course takes about 3 minutes, about 1 km or so. The sprint yesterday took me 5:26 for my fastest time. A very long sprint, I'd reckon just under 2 km. It was a fun course. You go up for half the race, then down a super turny hill, then onto a long slightly uphill finish. That is the part that hurts the most. I qualified in 3rd (out of 53), so I was quite happy. The top 10 went to heats, where the finals were decided. I managed to make it to the finals which guaranteed me a 4th place. Which I did end up using this auto 4th. The other guys in the heat took off at the end, and with only 3 lanes for the finish I just cruised into the finish. Out of the final 4, 3 were from MN, and 2 from Duluth (Bjorn Bakken and I). I found this quite entertaining.
15 km (skate)
The race today was a mass start. Those are usually pretty stressful and one must be really aggressive to get a good position. It is a lot like biking. I really enjoy pushing people around, so I got a good spot. The first lap was great, skis were fast, body was working well. Then for some reason right as the second lap was starting, I started to die. I think it was partly because I got tired, and also my skis got really slow, but what can you do. I just pushed through the pain and managed to stay 10th until the finish stretch where I put 40 meters on a kid in the last 200. All told I finished 9th.
Other Olaf kids are doing decent.
Sprint: Shaina 2nd, Caroline 9th
15km: Caroline 5th, Jennie 8th
Sprint: Nels 9th
15km:Nels 8th

Tomorrow is a rest day. I cant wait...