Whirlwind

I am at work. In the city.
It's been just 8 days since I have returned from one of the most amazing experiences and events in my life, hands down. I'm certain that there will be very few events that will compare to the World Championships in Oslo. I literally have no words to articulate the atmosphere - it was EPIC!!
That all said, I am so honored and thankful to have had the opportunity to compete on that stage. There were definetly days that were trying as my results didn't exactly align with my own expectations. Although those days accounted for about .0001% of my time!

Canadian Nationals started on Saturday, I was sad to miss the team relay and the 5km skate as both are events I love, however one of my best friends from home was getting married and I promised myself and her that I would never miss those kinds of events. So off to Toronto I went. Unfortunatly I won't be able to compete at Nationals until the 30km, which I think is a good way to close out a great year and also my ski carrear, yes I am retiring for real this time...atleast I think so! ;)

I am looking so forward to competing in Canmore on the weekend! I can't think of a better way to close this chapter then a competing at Worlds and then a 30km skate at Nationals!

ciao,
Brooke

Update

The last few days have been fast and furious with lots of racing action going on!

Holmenkollen is quite the venue! The crowds are SO loud! Never in my life have I have been at a venue that has the loudest fans, and I went to a lot of New Kids on the Block concerts when I was young, but nothing compares to this (probabley a bad comparison!).

The races have been so amazing to compete in. Each day you are carried around the course by spectators with horns, yelling "hei ya", and even your name! Its been quite the experience, the only thing I would change is my performance on the results sheet, but other then focusing on recovery, staying positive and fighting with everything I have on the day I can't do much else to change the results. I will say though, it has been really dissapointing as my results don't really seem to line up with how I have been feeling in the warmups. The wax team has been incredible! We have had great skiis everyday, however, I'm so happy to be focusing on skating for the next two races as my confidence has definetly begun to waiver!

It's also been extrememly inspiring to see the US women in the top 30 of the distance race, especially my teammate from CXC Jessie Diggins who is still a junior and has been performing so well in every race- she is a force to be reckoned with.

The Canadian men had us all on the edge of our seets in the Men's pursuit on Sunday! All I can say is that racing at this level and doing well at this level are completely different items - it takes a lot more then fitness to medal here or even to place in the top 15 - so for the Canadian men to place 3 in the top 15 at the World Championships is pretty incredible!

Today is the men's 15km classic individual start race. The course is so hard...and it takes me a lot to say that a course is tough, but Oslo has layed out a course that requires huge lugs, legs of steel and the ability to put yourself into a pain cave and hang out there for the duration of the race...its pretty awesome!

Here are some photos! I will try to take some more at the team sprint day!