The temperatures cooperated today and the skate races were able to start. It was still very cold and the distances were shortened from 10K/15K to 5K/10K. I was pretty excited about the distance switch because the 5K skate is my favorite race. The race went pretty well for me. I went out like I normally do and had a great first 3K. After that, my technique fell apart when I got tired. Hopefully, I can fix this problem with some more interval training. In a 5K race, there is no room to go out slower. Hopefully, by the end of the year I will be able to finish as strong as I start.
My CXC teammate Caitlin Compton won the women’s race today, she was 3.5 seconds in front of Kikkan Randall of USST and APU. We are very proud of her and it feels pretty good to know that I train with her all year round. Kristina Owen was the next CXC girl in finishing 17th with a time of 16:02.6, Johanna Winters was 18th (16:03.0), I was 20th (16:04.1), Jessie Diggins was 21st (16:04.2), Heather Zimmerman was 62nd (17:04.5), Libby Ellis was 67th (17:09) and Jen Rolfes was 101 (17:53.9). There were 169 women in the race and times were extremely tight. Around me, there were 5 girls within 1 second of each other (19-23).
Several of my former NMU teammates also had notable races including Caitlin Compton, Lindsey Dehlin of the USST in 8th (15:39.3), Morgan Smyth of the USST in 21st (16:04.2), Marie-Helen Soderman of NMU in 31st (16:18.4), Laura Dewitt of NMU in 49th (16:41.5), and Ingrid Fjeldheim of NMU in 57th (16:57.5). I have a feeling these NMU girls will be out for blood tomorrow.
I will let Bryan report on the Men’s race later, but I can’t help but mention that Matt Liebsch was third today! I also took a few pictures of the boys finish.
Matt Liebsch within the final 150 meters of his 3rd place finish
Garrott Kuzzy #246 skiing to his 8th place finish
Bryan Cook #245 skiing to 14th place overall
Justin Singleton #290 of NMU on the far right