Holmenkollen with friends!

Despite awesome home stays, chasing new opportunities and doing my best to hold onto the red bib traveling is exhausting, there is no doubt. While a life “ski racing in Europe” sounds glamorous  (and it’s sure, in some ways, it is) it can be quite tiresome. Now is perhaps one of those times. Daffodils line the sidewalks outside of grocery stores, Easter’s right around the corner according to the calendar, and skier conversation has turned to spring destination plans.

This past week I was in Oslo to apply for my Russian VISA, cheer on teammates at Holmenkollen, and stage for this weekend’s Norwegian Birkebeiner. 

Let me just say that the VISA process has been pain staking and that is perhaps, an understatement.  I've sent no less than 150 emails, made countless phone calls, and people made personal visits to the VISA center on my behalf before I even arrived.  It turns out that applying for a VISA outside of your own country (and) when you cannot give up your passport for weeks or months at a time is complicated. Phone calls (if you can get through) and emails (when they are returned) create more confusion as answers aren't always the same and "conclusions" are confusing. That said, the VISA center has my completed application and my passport, along with the Russian VISA is supposed to be available later this week for pick up. I'll believe it when I see it - however I'll have to stop by literally on my way to the airport (with 150# of gear in tow) so I really, really hope it works out. If not, I'll have to throw away the plane ticket and start again! 

A huge thank you to Andrey, Alexei & Yacopo (pictured below on my left) for their help in the VISA process. If I make it there these three are largely to thank! 

Minus the VISA work, the rest of the week was great seeing my former US Ski Teammates...... but I couldn’t help but feel a bit abandoned as conversation focused on travel itineraries and how excited they were to go home. This is most definitely the time of year that a bit of homesickness begins to creep into your skin and it’s important to stay focused and live in the moment rather than wishing you were somewhere you are not. When and if I ever start to feel sorry for myself I remind myself that I have what a friend calls, "first world problems" and that my life is insanely awesome. I am SO lucky. 

Here are a couple more pictures from the week: 

 Warm conditions called for salting the course. Check out this sweet adaptation to the Piston Bully!

Pete was in town after racing the VASA. 

When in Norway, the cheese slicer is a staple...... & not just one

 A typical scene in Oslo - people getting on public transport with their skis

Friends enjoying the sun 

Mexican night at Astrid's! Me, Liz, Astrid, Emil 

 Pano from the top of the Holmenkollen ski stadium athlete room and waxing facilities.  This past week the Holmenkollen ski stadium was at it's best - nothing like the zero-viz fog of World Championships 2011!

30k Feed zone during the women's race 

 Dash Hoff & EBJ "commuting" to the 50k....

Trailside snacks, served with coffee

A great aspect of Holmenkollen is how accessible the course is. Outside of the grand stands it's free to attend and many Norwegians make a weekend out of it. Many World Cups, World Champs, and Olympic races you sometimes feel like you're out there alone. That is NEVER the case at Holmenkollen! 

A tired Brian Gregg gives a thumbs up! 

Now THIS is a cool app. I think it exists all over Norway. You can look at any ski area and see where the groomers are in real time. The colors represent how long it's been since the trails were groomed last!  You can chase fresh tracks and corduroy to your hearts content! No wonder they're good classic skiers here.... 

Super fun training ski out on the course pre-50 & 30k days... 

 In the finish pen with Sadie & Diggs!

 Liz and Matt post 30k. Liz signing some autographs

Me & Kikkan spent the 30k doing support. I was a cheer leader running from spot to spot and Kikkan worked at a feeding and spare pole station. When you aren't racing it's still fun to be intimately involved :) 

Everyone always looks forward to the Holmenkollen heart shaped waffles!

Thanks so much to Astrid Jacobsen for opening up her awesome home to me for a week in Oslo. While it was a busy stint for her with Drammen and Holmenkollen it was fun to get a small peak into her life in Norway. We got to know each other two summers ago when Astrid came to Alaska to join the annual women's training camp. She spent a week + doing dryland (hence, the Bomber Glacier picture below), a week on Eagle Glacier, and then some time visiting my cabin in Hope and a fishing trip on the Kasilof River. 

International friendships are most certainly a highlight and one of the best things about being an International ski racer. This year, spending time away from the World Cup I've actually gotten to spend some quality time with friends I've made over the years. 

Not only is Astrid an incredible skier - she skied to an amazing THIRD PLACE in the Holmenkollen 30k - but she's insanely well rounded too. She's currently enrolled in medical school (yes, you heard me right... ) and does a lot of work for her local community.  Two years ago she co-hosted the first ever Norwegian Fast and Female event. One of the nights I was there she went to a 3 or 4 hour board meeting for her ski club, Heming, two days before her race. 

Johug, Bjorgen & ASTRID! 

If you haven't been following FIS Cross Country on Facebook be sure to check them out. This year Jeff Ellis and crew have been doing an awesome job with their "Inside the Fence" videos.  Here is the last one of the year called the Magic of Holmenkollen: 

After a busy week where I didn't even race (!) I moved from one household to another. I am currently staying in Lillehammer with Erik Stange and his awesome family. Erik and his wife Emily are American and moved to Lillehammer four years ago. They have to kids and a great part of each day is reading Greta a book before bed. Last night we read Madeline which I absolutely love. 

Erik was an elite ski racer back in the day so he knows what it's like to chase the dream and live out of a duffel bag. He said that letting me stay here is like repaying a "karmic debt."  I had never met Erik before coming to stay in his home but we have one degree of separation and know a lot of the same people. Needless to say, there is no lack of conversation. 

The next report will be from the Norwegian Birkebeiner.  Can't wait to check it off the "skier's bucket list!" 

Thanks for checking in. More soon, 

Sincerely, 

Holly :) 

Engadin Sun & Red Bib

This past weekend was my third trip to the Engadin ski marathon and the beautiful valley it runs through..... 

My first morning in the Engadin Valley didn't disappoint! 

 The annual St. Moritz night sprint.  The "prologue" is a short 650 meters and the "race" which for girls consists of semi-finals and finals isn't much longer. It's a small windy track and it's almost impossible to pass. Therefore, fast starts are a must. I was third out of the tracks and third overall. Happy to be on the podium with some quick girls, Lucia (Germany) & Tatijana (Switzerland) 

 Looks staged but it isn't! 

Ski with Team Gregg

 Valley "Roseg" with Kent, Inge & Tony

 Inge & Kent

Dinner with the Gregg clan and stories from Falun 

Congrats to Caitlin on a historic bronze medal in the 10k - fun to see and hear about it in person!

Also fun to run into my APU teammates Tyler and David who did the race as well! 

 And my Swedish (former) World Cup friend Lisa Larson who is taking the year off and working as a ski tech at a ski shop in Pontresina! 

Making schnitzel in a small Swiss kitchen :) 

There are certainly people in the ski industry that like to have a good time! (Schnapps dispenser in an unspecified location!) 

Thanks to Salomon for the race support - ski testing, race wax and (attempted) feeds. I say attempted because the race was too fast and too hectic to get them! 

Stefan helping me test! 

 The night before... 

 Six girls on the podium (left to right) Anouk, me, Ritta Liisa, Caitlin, Aurelie & Antonella. Or, France, USA, Finland, USA, France, Italy.... 

Not the race I was looking for but JUST ENOUGH to get the red bib back! Now I lead by a tiny 4 points...... everything will come down to the FIS Marathon Cup Final in SIBERIA of all places, April 11th. (Chad Gregg, photo) 

This year I really felt the altitude (nearly 6,000 feet) when we hit the hills. Having come directly from Poland I had 5-6 days in Switzerland before racing which is NOT the altitude window that you want. Either it's best to come 10 days before or the night before to have the best performance. That said, logistically it was impossible to plan a good altitude entrance to the race. And, I didn't want to wait until the night or day before to come to the Engadin for obvious, beautiful reasons! 

The race itself was fast and furious, per usual. I remember my first trip to the Engadin a few years ago and my finishing comment was that I had never been in such a violent ski race - ever.  Thousands of people, men and women start at the same time and ski into a headwind for the first 10k.  The first ten k is literally a game of half skill, and half luck. Over half of the women that finished on the podium broke poles and the luck part of the race is a) avoided crashes around you and b) catching a good draft with the top pack of men.  Once you're in a pack it turns into a constant battle for position and older men that you might be skiing with are constantly trying to "get in front of the girl" or beat out their buddy. There was talk about an all girls wave that would begin before the masses this year but it didn't happen. The concern was that girls in later waves would catch the draft with the men and cross the finish line with a faster time than the girls in the elite wave.  The solution (I think) is to make it so that the women's winner has to come out of the elite women's wave. Make it big enough so that it's inclusive, and start us 20 minutes before the Elite men and 14,000 other people. The American Birkebeiner has a women's wave and it's great to have a women's race. All of a sudden the tactic becomes skiing rather than loosing the other women, battling with the men, and keeping your equipment in one piece!  

That said, the Engadin is a great race in perhaps one of the most beautiful ski areas in Europe. I highly recommend adding it to your "ski bucket list." 

Me & Chelsea with Tony.... still wearing Seahawks gear but this year he left the full get up behind. A HUGE thank you to Tony W. for helping out with logistics and mobilizing a big USA crew each year for the race! 

Here is a photo of Tony from last year and yes, he skied 42k like THIS:

It was hard to leave St. Moritz..... really hard. The skiing was perfect, the sun packed a punch. And I was exhausted. But we rallied... to sit in the worst traffic jam that my Swiss ride Elias, had ever seen. We got back to Chelsea's apartment (Zurich "home base" and gear storage) super late and I proceeded to spend the next 3 hours unpacking, packing and doing laundry.  Then I slept for 3.5 hours before hiking to the tram and then to the airport to catch my flight to Oslo. I don't know what I was thinking when I booked the ticket 10 days ago but the itinerary was WAY too ambitious and exhausting. Actually, what I was thinking was that I would go to the Russian consulate in Oslo first thing Monday morning to work on applying for my VISA to get into Russia. In reality, my "invitation" is still not ready and Monday turned out to be a Russian holiday anyways.  

To make a long story short, the Russian VISA application is extremely difficult when you're a) outside of your own country and applying from another and b) when you cannot afford to give up your passport for week (or months!) at a time because you're constantly traveling and need it. I'm still in the process of trying to obtain it and I'll let you know how it goes. Wish me luck! 

And as always, thanks for the cheers & following. 

Sincerely, 

Holly 

PS. GOOD LUCK to all the Alaskan Junior Racers competing in Truckee, CA at the 2015 Junior Nationals! 

P.P.S. Graham Longford, AKA "@klisterhead" on twitter wrote a really fun description of the Marcialonga back in January. He did an amazing job of documenting INCLUDING photos mid-race. It was fun for me to meet Graham after depending on his European-based World Cup tweets for such a long time. Check it out below if interested.... 

http://swissblog.net/2015/03/10/the-marcialonga-brushes-with-greatness-at-italys-most-famous-ski-marathon/

Team Czech + Holly.... Bieg Piastow Report

What a weekend….. While the racing itself wasn’t the best, I had a great time with my new friends which certainly fulfills the “exploring the world one ski marathon at a time” aspect of my winter!

During my initial planning stage months ago I saw the Bieg Piastow on the schedule, revisited the map to find that Szlarka Poreba was FAR from most ski locales in central Europe and thought, “Oh boy…. That’s going to be a hard one” (from a logistical stance).  How would I get there? Where would I stay? Who would help me wax my skis?? Of course I’ve asked myself these questions every weekend this winter but the thought of going to Poland for the first time alone seemed intimidating.

Then I met Adela at the Finish line of the La Sgambeda in December. She was one of the super strong girls that opted to go without kickwax two classic race days in a row – first the 15k team time trial and the next day, the 35k Swix Ski Classic. Needless to say, I was impressed!  During our short introduction I also learned that she didn’t start skiing until she was 20 years old – wow!

We kept in touch via Facebook and lamented about bad races at the Marcialonga (my race much worse than hers)  Somehow the topic of the Bieg Piastow came up in a FB messenger conversation and she offered to help me “manage” the trip. Once again, the kindness of new friends (or strangers) shines through!

After weighting the options I decided to fly to Prague where Adela & her boyfriend Jiri, picked me up for the 2 hour drive to the race venue.  The Bieg Piastow race is in Poland but we stayed in Harrachov, Czech Republic literally two kilometers down the highway.  The Bieg venue hosted a World Cup race two years ago but I didn’t attend.  We arrived Wednesday night for a Saturday race. I was pretty beat from the long International travel (from the Birkie) and slept like a ROCK the first night with assistance from a double dose of sleeping pills.

Each day leading up to the race more and more people showed up for what I’ll call the “Czech Alliance +Holly” which was Adela, Jiri and Jiri’s father, Jiri Senior AKA skiman #1. Then Petr Novak (Current FIS Marathon Cup men’s leader) and his mother and father plus his ski man, “Lada.”  For race day we were joined by Petr’s girlfriend Pavlina and her friend Petra. The family aspect of the Czech racing weekend really struck me as extraordinary, especially in comparison to my pseudo “orphan status.” 

The whole gang after the race 

Any fears I harbored were extinguished the second Adela and Jiri picked me up from the airport. The entire crew was extremely welcoming and immediately took me as “one of the team” eventhough I was anything but…. Only Adela, Petr, Pavlina & Petra spoke English but it was amazing what we were able to accomplish with smiles, gestures, and lots and lots of acting not to mention Adela’s tireless translation skills. The intricacies of kick wax adjustment, how to offer feed support on a 50k marathon race loop, and stories about home were communicated without any major hiccups. It was amazing.

Due to the kindness and extreme amount of effort that “team Czech” put into me I wanted to race well for them almost more than the valuable FIS Marathon Cup points I needed to hold onto the red leader’s bib!  I cannot express how much they went above and beyond to make me feel welcomed and supported. With the race being so close to home Adela did a lot of cooking prior to the trip and we ate things that she & her family grew, raised, or harvested. Fresh eggs, a homemade cake, rabbit soup (!) pickled beets, the best meatloaf I’ve ever had….

My new (fast!) friends!  They competed on Friday and Sunday and each won both races....

Then it was race morning and let’s just say that it came really, really early. I usually have an amazing internal clock and will frequently wake up two minutes before my alarm goes off.  Saturday morning I woke up, ready to race. I went downstairs, made a big bowl of 50k oatmeal (peanut butter, banana, raisins, yogurt, salt, honey) and drank two cups of coffee. I finished and thought it weird that other people weren’t joining me in the kitchen. It took me a full 45 minutes to realize that it was ONE THIRTY AM, not SIX THIRTY AM. SH*%!!! Upset with myself I got back into bed with a full stomach, full bladder and laid in bed for the next five hours wide awake with two Starbucks Vias in my system. Unable to fall asleep I caught up on all my favorite blogs, twitter, and saw everything friends posted on Facebook.  Let's just say it was not the ideal start to an important race. 

 SHOOT!!!!!!

This picture brightened my day and made me smile though! 

The red bib I "won back" in the Birkie... .and then promptly "lost" again.... 

Homemade soup....

The night before in our red bibs.... determined to keep them! 

Photo, Marcin Oliva Soto

Adela receiving her award from one of the two races she won over the weekend

Photo, Marcin Oliva Soto

With Marek, Salomon Poland

Photo, Marcin Oliva Soto

Women's podium. The race gave beautiful crystal/glass engraved vases.  Maybe it's a good thing I didn't win because I have NO idea how I would get the vase that Tatijana is holding back to AK! 

Photo, Marcin Oliva Soto

Polish podium mascots

This guy looks disinterested for the shot but believe me, he was interested in getting his picture taken with me :)

Photo, Marcin Oliva Soto

New friends and awesome "ski men" Jiri Senior and Lada

Like an ice cream truck but for eggs and produce - complete with clucking hen music! 

Regarding the race..... I had heard the course was hard - more like true classic skiing with uphills and downhills. While it wasn't flat there was a HUGE amount of Double pole which has proven hard for me this year. While the tendinitis in my arms is better than it was 3 weeks ago it's still bad making it so I can't train DP. That and the other girls were just stronger and faster. No excuses.  But, I'm pumped that the last two races are skate. I've beaten all of my major FIS Marathon Cup competitors in every skate race this season so I'm hoping the cards are stacked in my favor. I do have a 17 point deficit that I have to make up though. While it would have been nice to ski faster in Poland I'm keeping the race for the overall title interesting - it's a true "nail biter" and will most surely come down to the final race, a 50k skate in Khanty Mansisyk Russia April 11th! Going to Russia in mid April is a topic for another blog post.... 

The weekend ended on a great note. I was able to watch 37 year old (!) Lukas Bauer of the Czech Republic ski his way into history and earn the silver medal in the men's 50k at World Champs. It was beyond fun cheering for a Czech skier in Czech, with Czechs! Congrats to Lukas! 

If you haven't seen it you have to check out this short sub two minute youtube clip! 

Last but certainly not least, a HUGE THANK YOU to Chelsea Little for the Internet, the couch and the storage space in Zurich. Without her help I don't know where I'd be! 

Off to catch the train(s) to the Engadin Valley!!!! 

Check back soon & thanks for the cheers, 

Holly