26km until the season is over...

Brooke, Erik and Sara Crust sking on our first day

Brooke in the Sprint Qualifier

As I mentioned in my last post, our final stop on our Scandinavia Tour (Sweden and Finland) was a place called Bruksvallarna. Situated in a mountain valley we lived in a nordic ski dream world. Perfect trails were 10 meters from our door step, the food was amazing, the company was enjoyable, the sun kept the temperatures around 5 degrees and the smile from my face never left. This definetly capped off a great year.

We raced a skate sprint and a 26km skate mass start on the friday and Saturday at the end of our stay. The sprint went well and I felt like my legs were recovering really well, which made it very easy to be excited to race the next day. I moved through my quarter final easily, but got knocked out in the semi-final in a three-way sprint finish. I do have to mention that this sprint race was made up of mostly distance athletes which I think made it more competitive for me. I felt like I put it all on the line for the first time in a while and that was such a great feeling, I entered the 'B' final knowing that all I could do was push as hard as I could from the gun. The course was really soupy by the end of the day and I used this to my advantage as I do tend to ski well in powder or adverse conditions, so I put the hammer down from the start and crossed the line winning the 'B' final. I was very happy with this result! Sara had some bad luck in her qualifier and got caught up in the slush, but faught hard in her quarterfinal which actually had the winner of the day in it.

The race I was most excited for was the 26km skate race up the mountain. This was hands down the hardest race I have ever done. I found that I was constantly having to keep my mind focused and fighting the whole way. Half way up the ski hill the pack started to break up and I remember telling myself that I had a choice to either try to go with the leaders and learn the speed or to remain where I was and settle for the same result in the middle of the pack I have become so accustomed to. So I decided to just try to close the gap and found that I could easily ski with the leaders. I had a moment of intimidation at the top of the climb when two of the girls went for the sprint preem and I just wasn't aware enough to cover there sprint- I think I was still in shock that I was with the leaders in an international race and feeling really good! Their gap gradually widened to one minute by the end of the race and I skiied the last 10km by myself which I don't particularly like doing, but I used it as a chance to force myself to keep fighting.

I crossed the line in 4th knowing that I couldn't have skiied any harder. This is exactly what I went to Sweden to do and it was such a nice way to end the season.

Podium in Bruks, I'm the one with the huge grin...I was pretty happy!

I am learning more and more that you have to be so gutsy if you want to win, but with that you also have to be pretty calculated and know where to push and where to recover.

Sara had one of her best races (despite what she may think) as I think she faught through the fatigue of a long season which is what you need to learn to do if you want to eventually win!

It was an amazing trip and a I am so thankful for the opportunity to have had the chance to travel and race in Sweden and Finland.

Brooke and Sara...with our helmuts ready for the skier cross, that I didn't do because I was too scared.

There is still snow in Canmore, but I think I might give it a few more days until I get back skiing...I am still actually anxious to train, but I know that I need to recover a bit before I head back into training full time.

For now its back to work and finding some sponsors for the final 9months of my skiing carrear!

ciao,

Brooke