Today we did some combo training for about 2 hours, of which about 45 minutes was hard intervals.. Shot ok�nothing special to write about today. Took a nap for 2 hours in the after noon�getting kinda tired.
Tuesday
Day off�.I was really happy to have the day off. Yesterday was fairly hard so I was content to sleep in til about 8:00 and then get up and make french toast. I went down to Bugaboos to get some coffee and do some work. It also gave me some time to work on this journal. I didn�t really do anything special today either�
Wednesday
Today we did some short relays. Danny and me were teamed up. Since we had a pretty serious streak of wins going, I told Andy and Cosmo that they didn�t have a chance racing against us. The first race was pretty close as Danny and Cosmo basically shot and skied the entire race together. Near the end Danny put in a surge and got a 50m gap on Cosmo by the time he tagged me. I kept the lead into the range and shoot clean without any extra rounds. (since it was relays we were allowed 3 extra rounds if we needed them). Andy had to use one or two and it cost him a little time. I came back in for standing and only needed one extra round�after that I skied easily home with the win. The streak was at 6!!!
The second race didn�t go like the first one. Danny and Cosmo skied thier race together so me and Andy started basically at the same time. Shooting prone for me sucked. I missed 2 targets even though I had 8 rounds for 5 targets. Knowing that I was way behind I skied really hard during the second loop. I came in to see that Andy had about 4 misses and he was already hand loading the extra rounds. I had already decided that I was going to shoot fast and that is what I did. I shot my first 5 rounds in about 22 seconds and after that I only had one miss. I grabbed a spare round and put it into the chamber, then squeezed off a shot and it went down. I sprinted to the finish as Andy finished his penalty loops. (Bonus: As Danny and Cosmo cheered me on, one of the Nordic Nudes joined in the cheering!!..I love Canada) That was one close race, but a win is a win�.the streak hits 7
The last race went well, with me and Danny winning that one too�.the streak reaches 8!!!
After heading back to the house it was time for a nap�.much deserved. Then it was off for another easy hour and half ski in the afternoon. Then yep you guessed it�time to lay on the couch�
Thursday
Today I had only a short ski in the morning. I had to finish early, because Piotr and Justin are racing the 10km Classic ski race around 11. So after my workout I headed back to the house to see when those two guys were racing. I found out that it was around noon, so I camped out with some hot chocolate on the couch and watched the Lions play the Patriots in the early Thanksgiving Day game. After watching the game for a while I headed down to the start to catch Piotr and Justin start. It was kinda fun to see those guys really suffer on one of the climbs into the finish area. I know it shouldn�t be, but hey it was!!! I talked to Justin the night before the race and I could see fear in his eyes regarding the difficulty of the course. I told him that I wasn�t a real religious guy, but that I would say a prayer for him before the race (and he needed it).
After watching the race we headed back to the house for Thanksgiving dinner. Laura did a fantastic job making the majority of the dinner�ok she made everything but the pumpkin pies (that was me). After enjoying a great dinner it was time to do the other time honored tradition�.lay on the couch in pain from eating too much�
Around 7 we went downtown to play a little pick up football game with some of the kids on the Junior National Team. Much to my chagrin there was no football to play with. So we had to use a huge beach ball and it was not the same. On the second play of the game I picked up a fumble and ran it back for a touchdown. But it was still disappointing because we didn�t have a real football. After playing for about an half hour we headed home for a hot tub before bed.
Today we had a two races in the a.m., the first race was a short sprint race (about 10 minutes in length) and then we took a break of about 15 minutes before we raced a pursuit based on the finish of the sprint race. I didn�t shoot well (thankfully no one else did either) but I ended up winning and beating Danny by 2 seconds (but it was a big 2 seconds!!!) and Cosmo and Johnny Kurtz were back about a 30 seconds and minute respectively.
So after the break I got to start first based on my finish from the sprint race and quickly Danny caught me and we skied together for the majority of the first loop. I kept up the pace into the range as Dan backed off a little bit. I ended up missing the first shot before knocking down the next four targets, but Danny shot clean and took the lead from me. Missing one shot per stage was the theme of my race as every stage I made one mistake and I ended up hitting 16/20. Kind of an average day shooting for me and it ended up not being anywhere near good enough to win. Hats off to Danny who ended up hitting 19/20 and easily won the pursuit part of the races.
Saturday
Finally the real race season is here. I�ll admit that I wasn�t really happy to see it snow last night because I didn�t think that it would be groomed well enough to set up before the race. Its really no secret that I don�t like soft conditions to race on�.never have, never will. But it wasn�t really that big of deal, as it was only on a couple of hills that it was sugary soft.
I was pretty lucky getting an early start, because I figured that as the race went on that it would only get softer on the trails. The problem was in the penalty loop. It wasn�t groomed very well and it quickly turned into quicksand. But wait, I�m getting ahead of my self�.
For me the race went pretty well. I didn�t feel good while warming up, but I hoped that once I started that I would feel better and thankfully it did!!! I skied the first loop a little conservative before prone shooting and then shot clean. I got back on course and skied a little faster before shooting standing. Standing went pretty well also, as I hit 4 out of 5. Even though I hit 9/10 I was a little disappointed about missing that one shot. But after standing I really couldn�t worry about it because I had a lap to ski before the finish. The last loop my technique got a little sloppy, but all in all it was a decent race. Actually for the first real race of the year it went pretty good. I was able to ski hard the entire way�.work on my technique�.and shoot a good cadence while knocking down almost every target.
I felt that I would probably end up in the top 5, but we had to wait until about 4:30 to find out the actual results. And I was pleasantly surprised to find out that I ended up winning. I knew that it was close between me and Andy, but I really thought that Danny had skied fast and would end up winning. The other big surprise was that me, Andy and Danny ended up sweeping the Senior Mens podium for Minnesota Biathlon. Just another step on our mission for Total Global Domination!!!
Also tonight was our end of camp dinner that we try to have to finish up every camp with. We went down to the Putnam Station for a little celebratory dinner and drinks before finishing up at the Saloon for some pool (and more drinks) and music by some of the skiers. But during dinner we entertained by Russ, the owner of the Putnam Station, and his train whistle collection. Basically it goes like this. Russ brings out all of his different wooden train whistles and tells a little story about each of them. At the end of this he get down this metal tubing that he says is a train whistle that he built himself. As he is about to demonstrate how it works, he was mysteriously called away for a phone call, so he handed it to Piotr and told him that he needed to blow really hard to get it to work. So when Piotr blew into it, flour came out the top and ended up on his head. The entire dining room had been watching the show up until now and everyone got a good laugh out of it. Luckily when I was here three years ago Russ played this trick on us and Gary Colliander was the lucky recipient of �flour treatment�.
So after we finished with train whistles it was time to head to the Saloon for some music and pool.
Once we got to the Saloon we put a loony and quarter on the table so that we could get in line for playing the next game. As it would be we ended up playing some coaches from the U.S. Ski Team�I hope they coach better than they play pool. After winning that game we somehow managed to lose the next one. The streak of six wins was over!!! How could it happen? I could blame my partner (Danny) but he was really the only one playing well so that wouldn�t be very nice. After we sat around and listened to Chad Salmela and Lowell Bailey play a little guitar, we got another chance at the table. I think we ended up winning a few and loosing a few the rest of the night. Near the end of the night we played a couple of games with Milene and Kate, our massage therapists for the week. I got a massage from Kate the night before and she promised me that I would be fast for the race, and she was right!!! So we had to buy them some drinks as a thank you for all their hard work, plus it was in Canadian dollars, so it was basically free�.
After departing the bar we noticed some of the locals doing a little sledding in the downtown area and naturally we had to take part. After a couple of runs down from the Lord Aberdeen Hotel we decide it is time to head home. Here�s where things get a little sketchy�.On the walk home Danny gets into a wrestling match (read: gets his butt kicked) with a local girl. In the end he comes running across the parking lot with a scarf�.apparently stolen from the girl that just beat him up. After some deliberation we give back the scarf and head home. Yes I know I have left out details, but it is really for everyones benefit that I do so�..
Note To Self: I am never drinking again!!!
Travel Day � Sadly this is the last day that we are in Silver Star and I am really not looking forward to this travel day. I have about twelve hours of traveling before I arrive back in Minneapolis around midnight. So after last nights festivities I decided that I would sleep in a bit then finish packing before our 10 o�clock pick up by the shuttle service. Here is my travel day from hell�.
10:00 shuttle pick up
10:45 stop by Tim Horton�s for a dozen donuts (Me and Danny split them)�.
11:30 arrive at airport
11:32 find out flight is delayed
12:38 find out flight is delayed again�
1:00 watch Minnesota Wild play Vancouver Canucks (and listen to the partisan crowd complain about the officiating�)
1:45 finally take off from Kelowna for Vancouver
2:45 arrive at Vancouver and quickly get lost trying to find my luggage�
2:49 me and Danny decide that its best if we split up�god speed Danny!
3:00 find luggage and head for gate�guess what? Yep, flight is delayed�.
5:05 fly to Seattle�.
5:09 get my own personal safety clinic from flight attendant on how to work the emergency exit (note to self: does she know something I don�t?)
5:45 get woken up by flight attendant who states: �we need you awake because you are sitting next to the emergency exit� (I was thinking hey if we crash I bet that I wake up!!!) Those wacky Canadians really take safety seriously�.
5:55 arrive at Seattle and quickly find out that I don�t have any options with Delta for getting to Minneapolis tonight. Great!
6:02 get on the stand by list for 1:40 AM flight on Northwest to Mpls (ticket agent asks me twice: �are you sure you wanna do that?) bad omen?�.nope�good times!!!
7:22 dinner at pizza hut�.
8:06-8:45 watched Cards vs Giants football game at Gate S9�lame�Cards didn�t even put up a fight�
9:45 batteries running low�.plus I�m out of coffee�a bad day just got worse.
10:45 watched dysfunctional family�.one sister made the other sister cry�.families at holiday, like oil and water!
1:30 I am told that the flight is full�I can�t go home�
1:32 get booked standby on 6:45 flight to Mpls
1:45 lay down for some sleep�.
2:30 TV�s come back on�.louder than before too..
5:37 get up to use bathroom�.
5:48 search aimlessly for Starbucks�.this is Seattle, how can there be no Starbucks in this concourse? 6:02 give up search�
6:45 I am told flight is full�still can�t go home�.
6:47 get booked standby on 8:20 to Mpls�whatever�
6:52 Danny calls me...at first I think he is mocking me...later I find that he is stcuk in Vancouver.
7:00 call office�.actually wish I was at work..
7:12 ate breakfast from Burger King�
7:30 really need coffee�for the love of god, where is Starbucks?!!!!
8:18 get on flight for Mpls�finally
1:30 arrive Mpls
3:00 arrive office�.