Engadin Battles and OPA Podiums

Once again, sorry for the delay in posting. I suppose I've been busy hopping time zones, countries and racing scenes.  Surprise, surprise, racing takes it out of you and add some intense travel on top of that plus the new-found 75 degree heat that greeted us in Vermont and I'm tired. But don't worry, not tired enough to pull out a few more good races on good ole USA soil! 

Pretty happy to be back on US Soil!  

To rewind... My last post was right before the Engadin Night Sprints in Downtown St. Moritz.  This was my first night sprint ever and it didn't disappoint.  There were no qualifiers or times, just elimination and head to head battle.  As in any night sprint, there were some good crashes, it was almost impossible to pass and there was some nice cash on the line - in the form of Swiss Francs.  

Night sprint course - most of the spectators were "in town" at the start and finish.... As you can see, the upper section was QUITE dark, living up to it's name (Night sprint!)

Here we are on the podium.  The two other girls are Swiss, from just over the mountains.  Lauren, the girl that won had her first World Cup podium back in December in the Davos Skate sprint. 

With Clark (left) who made fast skis and team leader, Tony (right) who had all the answers!

While in Switzerland we did some serious spectating and cheering from the Telly. A big group of us would pile into a room and yell at the TV, cheering on our friends. Highlights were abundant and we had a blast cheering on Susan Dunklee when she claimed 5th at Biathlon World Championships, Bryan Fletcher (Nordic Combined) when he won the Oslo World Cup and the Hoff (Noah) when he was leading the 50k Holmenkollen!

Watching races live in Europe is a blast..... 

 

 We had a cappuccino or two... 

 And also gawked at the amazing abundance and selection of Swiss chocolate

 The night before the race we had a big pre-race meeting and Tony delivered our bibs.  Here is the whole crew, minus Billy Demong who flew in directly from Oslo, arrived in the middle of the night, slept two hours, raced the race and flew back to the states, all in the span of about 24 hours!

 Front row (l-r) Lars Flora, Clark, Torin Koos, Bettina Gruber (Swiss/Torin's girlfriend) Back row (l-r) JD Downing, Evelyn Dong, Caitlin Compton Gregg, Matt Liebsch, myself, Nicole Deyong & last but certainly not least, Tony. 

So, unfortunately I don't have any pictures from the race itself. Or the finish line for that matter.  The entire experience was one part battle, one part exhilarating, one part frustrating, and one part learning experience.  Basically, I wasn't quite prepared for the flash mob of skiers that overwhelmed the trail once the starting gun went off.  Basically, the "elite women"start with the elite men at 8:30 in the morning.  Well, there are multiple other waves of "elite" people that start at the same time, simply 50 meters behind us.  So basically, you have a bazillion people starting at the same time - skiing into a headwind.  There is no where to go and nothing you can do except for try to protect your skis and poles from being broken and anticipate gigantic crashes all around you.  As a female skier, its difficult to keep track of where the other females are because there may be 20 master-aged men in between you and them.  The first 15k or so of the race are on big, flat lakes and we faced a ten mile per hour headwind the day of the race.  What does this mean? It means that the guys in front don't go very fast and this has the effect of a carbonated drink about to explode.  Let me just say this:  It was pure battle and I wasn't exactly prepared for what I faced.  

A Steinbock, native to the region.... 

Luckily I made it through without any broken equipment but at some point, leading up to the bottle neck of the course (big steep wall of a hill) I got separated from the lead women.  Shortly after, a gap formed with the female leaders skiing in a pack of 30-50 men - simply along for the ride. I was in a pack one group back.  Because of the headwind I was simply unable to bridge the gap to the next group and no one in my group was competent or fast enough to pull us back in.  In fact, all the men we were skiing with simply pulled over with a "ladies first" attitude.  There was simply no where to go and the race was over once I lost the female leaders at the 15k mark.  It's unfortunate because for the majority of the race I didn't even feel as if I was skiing hard.  I just missed the train, or the pack - literally.  

Houses in Europe and particularly Switzerland seem to be obsessed with exterior decor and specifically, window shutters.  This is one that I really like... 

After the race, others compared the Engadin to a road race. In fact, I think there was a funny comment about it being similar to a road race in that you saw people out there of "all funny shapes and sizes" doing well.  It wasn't really a race of fitness or ski skill (I am certainly not trying to take anything away from the folks that did well) but more a race of positioning, marathon experience and a bit of luck.  

It wasn't until the end of the race that I also learned that some of the top marathon girls ski with men to help get them through the pack and if need be, provide a draft to pull them back up to a group.  Coming into this experience I had no idea how many similarities this would have to bike racing.  I promised myself that when I come back to race this race again, I will bring my own domestique!  

In Switzerland they also love their window lace tapestries.  

All said and done, I was frustrated because I had goals of making the podium but instead finished 8th.  But, next time I will be better prepared.  Nonetheless, it was a great time and a nice change of pace to experience a European World Loppet.  There is a huge circuit over here for these big races and I certainly hope to hit up more of them in the future. Thanks so much to Tony for leading our group and providing great enthusiasm and vision for the US crew!  

Following the big race half of the crew was scheduled to fly home and the other half was scheduled to continue onto Toblach Dobbiaco Italy for Europa (OPA) cup finals.  OPA is basically like the central European Super Tour and we had a huge group of Americans that participated.  

First, we had to GET from St Moritz to Toblach which included four trains, one bus, one car ride - narrowly escaping Italian jail and load upon loads of gear and awkward ski bags that never seemed to fit in the trains properly. 

 

This picture doesn't do justice for the amount of gear we had with us.... Upon our arrival in Toblach we felt very accomplished yet exhausted!

Along the way I got a good chuckle from the choices in the vending machine.  From left to right your choices are party stix, a "Maybe Baby" pregnancy test (15 euro), condoms & lighters.  Europeans are certainly more liberal about some topics.... 

 #36 - Maybe Baby! 

This was my second trip to Toblach this winter, the first being for the middle stages of the Tour de Ski.   This time around Toblach was balmy and the only reason we had snow was because most of the venue is in a valley, shaded during the heat of the day.  

 The Toblach sprint hill goes OVER the building!

 The series was also a reunion with the APU ladies team! 

The race was a three day mini tour with back to back races including a skate prologue, a classic 5k and a 10k pursuit start.  Prizes for the races included GINORMOUS chunks of meat and cheese. (The one pictured above is the small one)  

 With Olympic Champion, Italian Pietro Piller Cottrer. 

 Prizes from day 2 - Classic 5k win! 

 Erik Bjornsen throwing his glasses to us in the skate race while we cheered him and the other boys on!

 The podium for the final day!  Each of the three days of racing were surprisingly close between myself and two Slovenians, Barbara & Alenka.  In fact, the middle classic day less than one second separated the podium - in an individual start race!  This shows the importance of every second counts! Or in this case, maybe every TENTH of a second counts! 

The last day I won a beautiful 5+ kilo pound of local, Toblach cheese.  In lieu of trying to carry it onto my International flight claiming, "No, I do not have any animal products!" I decided to give it to our beloved waiter for the week, Bert.  He played awesome tricks on us all week included my favorite, pretending to spill a hot bowl of soup on you only to catch the (empty) bowl with a spoon!  

Racing the OPA scene was a great experience for me.  As many of you know, my rise to elite level ski racing was somewhat backwards.... OPA is usually seen as a stepping stone for the World Cup and Championship level skiing.  Instead, I qualified for the Olympics first, then proceeded to gain World Cup experience, followed by OPA. Most people attend these events/races in the opposite order.  Needless to say, it felt great stand on top of a podium and racing OPAwas a blast. Thanks a ton to Bryan Fish (team leader) and Casey, Clark & Colin for providing good boards!  Thanks also to NNF for helping provide support for the trip. 

WHEW.... that leads me to where I am now, Craftsbury Vermont.  I am back with the APU team and this weekend we will race Super Tour finals and the National Championship 30k.  Crazy as it sounds, temperatures are in the high 70s.... in fact, its so hot that our team had to seek out a thrift store today to buy shorts and tank tops.  My winter ski racing attire doesn't cut it here! 

That's it for now. Thanks for reading the novel. More to come from Vermont! Cheers, 

Holly :)

Moving 190 lbs of Awkwardness

There is certainly an art to traveling and traveling well.  There are tricks to traveling in a big group such as the US Ski Team, and there are tricks to traveling by yourself. Both have their advantages as well as their challenges.  With the USST coaches are there for support and almost always, they take care of every logistical detail. If you wish, you can simply act as a herd animal following others around you.  This doesn’t mean it’s easy and that doesn’t mean it’s not tiring.

View out the train window headed towards St. Moritz from Zurich

In comparison, traveling by yourself allows you to be on your own “watch” but it also means that its your personal responsibility to get from point A, to point B. If you don’t, you might not get your next meal or find a bed for the night! 

Take this past weekend for example. It was a test in spontaneity, last minute decisions, and faith that everything would work out!  Less than a week ago I flew from the states into Helsinki, Finland to compete in the Lahti (Finland) World Cups.  If I skied well, I would be invited to continue onto Norway and if I skied REALLY well, there was a small chance that I would keep racing through World Cup finals in Sweden. 

Well, I simply didn’t ski well in Finland. Blame it on the travel, the 50k a week prior, or just simply “not going fast enough” the options of racing in Norway and Sweden were gone.  Going into this period, I knew it was an option and had come up with plan A, B & C in theory (and theory only)! 

Leaving the Finnish sandwhiches of Lahti... 

I have recently decided that buying plane/train tickets and making reservations well in advance only costs money (especially when you have to change and/or cancel plans) and I can only afford to “throw away so many tickets” that I don’t use. So, on Sunday after sprinting poorly, I pulled my laptop out at the venue, and later the hotel to buy my ticket out of Helsinki for the following morning.  (As you might imagine, I was nervous logging onto kayak.com, praying that tickets hadn’t tripled in price since the last time I had looked!)

The plan quickly and spontaneously came together: Share a shuttle to the airport with the French team, fly from Helsinki to Stockholm to Zurich. In Zurich I managed to meet up with my German Cousin Felix, whom I’ve met once, in 1995. I crashed on his couch for the night and he helped me navigate the bus and train station early the next morning on his way to work. (Thanks Felix!) 

 Me & Felix in Zurich 

After leaving Felix I was left to schlep 190 lbs of gear by myself, from train to train and train station to hotel. I developed a strategy: move one bag 50 meters, go back for the other one, then move the next, keep all 190lbs in eye sight the whole time. As you can imagine, this is slow, tedious and a workout in and of itself. Sometimes strangers take pity on you and offer to help and other times, they're just offended that your ski bags are in the way..... 

When considering the hardship & expense of traveling while competing as an American in Europe, it is certainly easy to envy the Europeans.  They have so many options, so many races to choose from and home is never that far away.  If they are racing poorly, it is always an option to attend a “B level race” and then return to the World Cup when they are feeling up to it. Everything is “close” for them and they’ve grown up navigating the autobahn of Germany and the ski trails of Val di Fiemme. Heck, they’ve probably even sampled the waffles of Holmenkollen since they were 13!  Being a ski racer in Europe could mean the equivalent of chosing between a World Cup in Anchorage, a World Loppet in Fairbanks, and a high level OPA cup race in Soldotna; all within the span of one weekend!  The Washington Equivalent would be a World Cup at Snoqualmie/Kongsberger, a World Loppet in Leavenworth, or an OPA in Spokane. 

With their knowledge, contacts, and know-how, it’s simply that easy. This past weekend while the World Cup was in Lahti, a couple of the top World Cup skiers opted to race the Swedish Vasaloppet instead. Vibeke Skofterud, one of the top Norwegians won the race to the tune of $50,000 and a brand new Volvo for setting a new course record! This is not to say that winning is easy but it certainly pays off over here if you can manage it!

Some US girls in the Engadin Valley! Me, Nicole Deyong, Caitlin Gregg & Evelyn Dong

What’s next for me? Night sprints in St. Moritz tonight followed by racing the Engadin Ski Marathon on Sunday! We have a great group of Americans here to take on the challenge. After this, it’s onto Toblach, Italy for OPA finals before heading back to the US for a domestic finale @ Craftsbury.  

That’s it for the 2011-2012 racing season!

H 

A shot of the MASS of skiers in the Engadin (taken from the Internet)

Caitlin standing under the Rivella blimp on the Engadin race course

Quick thought from 30,000 feet..!

Well, I’m on a plane once again…. Based on my rough estimates, I have flown approximately 25 hours in the past week and 35 hours in the past two weeks (this is airtime alone!)  This is a complete experiment and this “travel heavy” approach is one that is usually NOT recommended.  If everything goes as planned, I will arrive in Lahti, Finland roughly 48 hours before Saturday’s 15k pursuit start. I’m hoping that the mental rejuvenation and time at home will supersede the time spent at 30,000 feet and the jet lag of the 10-hour time difference. 

Right now I’m simply feeling lucky that they let me on the plane.  As it stands now, I have no ticket leaving Europe, traveling home and apparently TSA and/or Finland (my arrival country) doesn’t like that.  Upon pulling up my itinerary, the lady at the Delta ticket counter informed me that I would not be allowed to fly to Finland without proof (a ticket) that I have firm plans to leave the country.  After multiple phone calls, and my firm negotiating skills, I got the go-ahead THANKFULLY.  That was a close one for sure….

What’s after Lahti? I’m not sure yet…. It depends on how I ski.  With six women and 4-5 starts for each race we must earn and/or share start rights.  Following the pursuit and sprint in Lahti there are two more regular season World Cups, the first being a city sprint in Downtown Drammen (Norway) and finally, the highly regarded, traditional “Holmenkollen” 30/50k race in Oslo.  At the finale of the regular season I will either make World Cup finals and stay on to race in Sweden or travel instead to OPA finals in Toblach, Italy.  Honestly, I am surprised that the points I scored in the first half of the winter have kept me within reach of making the finals. I missed lots of good point scoring opportunities rehabbing my wrist and traveling home for a short break back in the states.

At this point, all I can do is ski as fast and my body will allow me to ski. The rest will take care of itself.  Of course my goal is to make the World Cup finals but racing in Italy with a large squad from the US (including many of my APU teammates!) would be a blast as well.  I feel like I have two great opportunities and I am really looking forward to ending the season on a high note!

That’s it for now… thanks for reading and check back soon for more updates!

Cheers!

Holly :)

Birkie Breakdown + the joys and lessons of being at home....

I’ve started a couple of different blog posts since making the trip home from overseas but haven’t finished any of them. Whenever I would sit down to write or finish my thoughts, I was always tempted to take them in a different direction. However, the gist of the missing posts was that it’s been great to be home. 

A quick layover in Seattle on the route home provided a chance to say "hi" to my parents! 

I’ve done all kinds of relaxing things like hang out with my cat Buggz, get out of town for a night with my husband Rob, and cook what I want, when I want it.  It’s the small pleasures in life that you take for granted when you are home that you miss on the road. For example, I love drinking coffee and reading the paper edition of my home newspaper, the Anchorage Daily News every morning. 

The spoiled Hellion of the house! 

I’ve realized that it’s a challenge to find the perfect balance between time at home and time on the road. If you’re gone all the time (and I was “scheduled” to be gone for five months, Nov-April) it’s TOO long and you might start to get a bit homesick.  On the opposite extreme, if you never leave home, it’s easy for life & training to get “stale” and you might start to wonder why you work so hard – and roller ski all summer in the rain if you never get to test your fitness against the “big fish” out there.

My somewhat abrupt trip back home has brought along overwhelming feelings of loving where I am from; the trails I train on, my house, community, friends, and family. At the same time, the distance and small break allows me to fully appreciate the experiences and the opportunities I’ve had on the road, racing in Europe.  Each side of the world is lovely in it’s own, special way and I feel extremely lucky to bounce back and forth from one continent to the other.  I have so, so many things to be thankful for.

This season has provided a great chance to experiment and I have learned a lot about myself & my needs and desires as an athlete.  This is an “off” year in that there are no World Championships and obviously, no Olympics. Therefore, it’s a great time to try new things - learn what does and doesn’t work so that I can plan the next two years ramping up into Sochi. 

I had a blast showing up to Anchorage High School Regions, unannounced to cheer on the APU junior athletes!  It was fun to see them skiing fast and most important, having fun doing it! 

Of course the unexpected nature of my wrist injury and subsequent stomach bug took a unique toll on my (physical) body and mental energy.  Had I continued on the roll I was on in November and December, who knows if the pull home would have been so strong? But, having experienced a long January and February in Europe without any significant results, I came home to re-fuel, rest up, and re-energize.

Last week Erik, my coach, sent out an article to our team the other day and included a quote by Muhammad Ali which really spoke to me:

"Success is not achieved by winning all the time. Real success comes when we rise after we fall. Some mountains are higher than others. Some roads steeper than the next. There are hardships and setbacks but you cannot let them stop you. Even on the steepest road you must not turn back".

I fully agree that having overcome adversity and hardship makes the sweet times even sweeter. Like this past weekend at the Birkie!

Racing the Birkie was not part of my original plan in my return back to the states. I needed to take one thing at a time, and make sure that I was feeling good before jumping aboard any race effort, be it the Birkie or a local race back home in Anchorage.  After a few days at home the idea entered my mind and all of a sudden it became more and more enticing.  Some of know that three years ago I competed in my first Birkie and lost the race in a lunge, photo finish at the line with Rebecca Dussault. Ever since I’ve been getting grief from my friends and I’ve wanted to come back and redeem myself. So, a couple days before the race I contacted the Birkie office and was reminded that Olympians have free entry in the Birkie for life – a fantastic perk if you ask me!

My lunge finish from 2009 - this was good for second place..... leaving me hungry this year! 

As it turned out, the Birkie was my first domestic race, and my first non World Cup race of the entire season.  Going back to the list of things I’ve learned this year is the fact that it’s healthy for mind and body to compete against a couple of different fields.  In World Cups, a fantastic day is top twenty and that great but there is something to be said for entering a race where you know the podium, or even the win is within reach.

Photo, Ron Swee

So, Rob and I used our annual Alaska Airlines companion fare ticket and flew into Minneapolis Thursday, arriving late that night in Hayward.  Friday was full of testing skis, picking up our bibs, and attending a pre-race meeting with Andy Gerlach, Salomon, and Zach Caldwell who all generously provided support for the race. (Which was absolutely fantastic & essential to my success I might add!  Thanks guys!)

Rob felt the excitement of the “day before the Birkie” and I believe my tweet was something like, “Rob has succumb to Birkie Fever… me? My temperature is 98.6 degrees.”  Going into the race I did everything I could to remain mellow and relaxed.  The entire purpose of my trip home was R&R and I was determined not to let the race interrupt the primary goal of the trip.

Speaking of relaxing, Rob and I SCORED on accommodations and hospitality during our stay in Wisconsin.  My good friend Hannah from Whitman College days and her family have a beautiful cabin on Round Lake, just a couple minutes outside of Hayward.  Lucky for us, Marge and Ron were already planning on spending Birkie weekend at the cabin and “wined and dined” us, cooking fabulous pre-race meals and driving us to the start line early Saturday morning. It’s always fun to meet new, fantastic people and our visit to with them was surely one of the many highlights of the weekend. Thanks you two!

With the Swees, Ron & Marge 

Saturday morning came fast and furious with a 5am wake up.  However, I’m not sure my body knows what time zone it’s in these days due to my heavy travel schedule.

The women’s race started off at a manageable pace, with a large group of ladies, many of whom I’ve grown to be good friends with.  Then, after the halfway point near “OO” Caitlin Compton Gregg made a big move off the front, darting through the chaos of the feed station and the elite wave man our group had caught. I was trying to squeeze down a feed and watched her ski away from me while I was attempting to choke down my GU packet.  It took me a while to chase her down but chase her down I did. We skied together a bit before I realized that had lost the other women. I subsequently pulled up to Caitlin and told her, “We gapped em!  Let’s work together to get away and make sure our gap lasts!”  And that was exactly what we did. We skied together, each taking turns “pulling” and skiing up in front, allowing the skier behind to draft and relax.  While we are undoubtedly competitors, we are also friends and smart racers. We knew that we could work together, and secure the top two spots on the podium together if we could cooperate.  Shortly after our break we quickly skied up on Eli Brown, my freshman year college coach at Whitman.  He ended up tagging along behind us for the rest of our race, letting the men know that we were coming through. He would inform them of our presence, and then tell them which way to move. I coined him, our “guardian loudspeaker.”  If we had not had his help, we would have spent a lot of additional energy weaving our way through other skiers and communicating our presence.  (Two hundred men start ahead of us and we end up having to pass approximately 130 of them along the 52k course.) 

Similar to three years ago, the race came down to a sprint up the Main Street of Downtown Hayward.  Just like three years ago, I rounded the corner first (onto Main street) but instead of thinking, “What the HECK am I doing!” this time, with more experience, I thought, “I am NOT going to loose this time!”  

Main street Hayward. Photo, Ron Swee

We powered up Main Street in front of thousands of screaming spectators and luckily, I was able to hang onto the lead, crossing the finish line first for my first American Birkebeiner Title!  To say I was elated is an under statement.  I was ecstatic! Not only did I get to ski the race with two good friends, Caitlin (undoubtedly one of the best skaters in the country) and Eli, but I met my husband at the finish line and won a race that has been on my mind, and conscience for the last three years.  It was my first “win” of the entire winter and I had a blast every moment of the journey!  The rest of the day was hectic with the podium ceremony, media engagements, tracking down my skis & driving alternate routes home to shower.  We attended a dinner with Norwegian Olympic Champion & guest Vegard Ulvang and the official awards ceremony back up at the historic Telemark lodge. 

Greeted by our husbands, Rob and Brian at the finish line - fun stuff! 

I’m home for a quick 36 hours before turning around and flying back to Europe for the last remaining World Cups of the season. While the heavy travel schedule and arriving no less than 48 hours before my start in Lahti, Finland isn’t ideal, my trip home was well worth it and I’m fired up to finish the 2011-2012 on a high note!

Psyched to be joining the "Birkie Wall of Champions" at the Telemark Lodge.

Soon to be reunited with these girls and the US Team in Europe: 

Our 4x5k relay team in Nove Mesto, Czech Republic, pre-race

Thanks so much to everyone that made the Birkie weekend possible and a special thanks to my current sponsors who make chasing the dream a reality – the Rhyneer Clinic, Carlile Transport, Alaska Pacific University Nordic Ski Center, Northern Fruit Company, Kongsberger Ski Club, Conoco Phillips, Salomon, Swix, Rudy Project & Alaska Medical Solutions. Also, thank you so much to the many individuals who have contributed to my travel fund – you know who you are!

Last but not least, here are a couple of links to articles about the 39th Annual Birkie: 

The Anchorage Daily News,

Holly Brooks wins American Birkebeiner in sprint

Anchorage nordic skier claims victory in race that jump-started her career.

Cheers & have a great week! Thanks for reading & more soon,

Holly 

 With Norwegian Olympic Champion, Vegard Ulvang, post race

Me, Tad SALOMON!

It's a "laundry weekend"

You may be wondering why I wasn't on the start lists and/or the results from this weekend's World Cup in Poland...... that's because, as I write this I'm sitting at my kitchen table half way across the world in Alaska.  Yep. After more than twelve consecutive weeks on the road my bed was calling and I decided to take a short, un-planned trip to AK for a few days. It was a hard decision, and one that had to be made "spur of the moment" as opportunities for transport are limited and timelines were tight. Also, next weekend is one of the few "off" weekends on the World Cup and to make flying back to the US count, it's nice to have a larger chunk of time for the visit. 

It's funny that I'm home now, as opposed to earlier this winter.  After breaking my wrist there was certainly some pressure to come home for rehab but I choose to stick it out in Europe and continue onwards. My thought was to avoid travel, the ten-hour time change, and to stay in my racing/training "groove."  I toughed it out, training in Ramsau with one pole by myself through snowstorms and wind. Then came Russia and it's frigid conditions.  I thought the cold would give me an advantage (being from Alaska) but I had a really hard time in Saturday's -19c race with my face turning white and my body feeling horrible. Sunday I turned things around a bit and things were looking up. My result wasn't anything spectacular but it was coming around & I looked forward to finding that groove yet again. 

Monday we flew back to Munich on the charter flight from Yaroslav and Tuesday, it was all I could do to get out of bed. I slept all night & all morning. I finally got outside for a ski at noon but could hardly move. I went back to bed. The next few days were low in energy and I had some digestive issues - either from Russia or beforehand, I am not sure. Needless to say, the week was rough and on Saturday, in the Czech Republic, I dropped out of the race which is something I simply don't do.  My body felt like an underpowered fiat or a 20-watt light bulb; horrible. Also, I knew that I would be counted on to race the 4x5k relay the next day for the team. Had I struggled through the 15k in Czech, I would have absolutely nothing left in my already diminished tank for Sunday's team event and the team needed me; I needed the team.  

Saturday night I booked my ticket to fly home with the departure scheduled for the following day, a couple hours after the relay race. Then, funny enough, Sunday was great. I was able to hang with the pack and helped the US ladies have the best women's relay finish of all time. I felt better and I was having fun.  Then, I had to decide: Get on the plane and come home for a break, or stay in Europe, per my original plan and not return until April. I was indecisive; I agonized for a few short hours. As the song says, "Should I stay or should I go!?"  Part of me wondered, why, after such a long stint in Europe is this happening now? I've been here this long; don't go home when there are race opportunities to be had. After waking up my coach at 4:30 in the morning to talk it out and calling Delta only to realize that my special Internet fare was non changeable & non refundable (even though I had purchased it within 24 hours) I decided to get on the plane. 

A part of me felt like taking a short trip home was a retreat, a "white flag" so to speak. But I think that the winter caught up with me. My wrist, racing the tour with an injury, the rehab, and then to top it all off, feeling horrible for the week heading into Czech and then dropping out of a race. All of this compounded and I felt that the best way to recover, both mentally and physically was to do so in my own bed, in my own zip code.  So, that's what I'm doing. I saw my parents briefly in Seattle, I cooked a spicy Mexican dinner for my in-laws (four different kinds of salsa, FYI) I'm hanging out with my husband who has been a great sport (about living the "bachelor" lifestyle) about all of this, napping with my cat Buggz, and ensuring that I'm 100% healthy for my return to Europe and the World Cup. 

Yes, I will potentially be jet-lagged, yes, I will "toe" the line with some travel in my body, and yes, I've given up some precious World Cup starts and potential point scoring opportunities. But, a break was needed and as one my teammates so eloquently put it, she said, "Holly, think of this as an opportunity to go home and do your laundry!"  And that is exactly what it is..... a chance to do my laundry.... maybe wear a new shirt..... I might also tackle my taxes, my PFD application, enter a domestic race..... I will be back in Europe in time for races in Lahti, Finland and Norway. After that, only time will tell. 

If you've gotten this far into my detailed account of why I'm not in Poland at the moment, thanks for sticking with me.  It probably would have been enough (and acceptable) for me to say, "I'm home for a short break before the remainder of the season." Yet, the decision for me was difficult and I find myself questioning whether I did the right thing everyday.  However, I'm working on letting go of things that are out of my control and focusing on making the most of every situation. After all this is ski racing, not brain surgery and it's not a big deal, right?  Every other competitor, from every other country has taken break(s) at home and this is mine.  After just a couple days I'm already feeling better and I can't wait to get back to it - Lahti, here I come! 

Sincerely, 

Holly :) 

ADN on the Czech Relay....

Alaskan on relay win best in US women's World Cup history

NORDIC: Alaskan helps u.s. quartet to best-ever finish at world cup.

By BETH BRAGG

Anchorage Daily News

Published: February 12th, 2012 11:39 PM 
Last Modified: February 12th, 2012 11:40 PM

The American women continued a historic World Cup season Sunday in the Czech Republic, and this time they did with their star on the sideline.

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Holly Brooks of Anchorage helped the U.S. ski team to fifth place in a cross-country relay race in Noze Mesto, Czech Republic. The result is the best relay finish by an American women's team in World Cup history, according to the U.S. Skiing and Snowboarding Association.

"The crazy thing is that we did all of this while Kikkan was on the side of (the) trail taking pictures!" Brooks wrote in an email.

Randall, the three-time Olympian from Anchorage who is the world's fifth-ranked skier, skipped the race to hasten her recovery from a cold.

As for Brooks, she returned to competition a little more than a week ago after missing a month with a broken wrist. She skied the scramble leg Sunday and put the Americans in good shape after the first leg of the 4x5-kilometer classic. Brooks was part of a five-woman pack vying for fourth place in the exchange zone; just four seconds separated them when they tagged off.

Ida Sargent and Liz Stephen skied the middle legs and 20-year-old Jessie Diggins, a budding star not just on the American team but on the World Cup tour, powered the Americans to fifth place by skiing the fastest anchor leg.

Charlotte Kalla held off Diggins at the finish line to give Sweden fourth place, one-tenth of a second ahead of the United States.

It was a shining moment for the Americans, who are registering the country's best results ever this season, and a encouraging one for Brooks.

"To be able to sit Kikkan today ... and still put together a result like this is a good snapshot of the strength of these ladies," Matt Whitcomb, the U.S. women's head coach, said in a USSA press release. "We are moving forward with big visions for the next relay."

The Americans could very well contend for a medal with Randall in the mix. They were very nearly fourth without her. And there were two Norway teams in the race, both of them finishing in the top three. At the Olympics and World Championships, a country can enter only one team.

"In different circumstances," Brooks wrote, "this would have been a sprint for a bronze medal. If we can do this well without (Randall), just imagine how well we can do with her."

Brooks, 29, is coming off a broken wrist suffered when she slipped on ice while on a Christmas day training run in Austria. She skied the entire Tour de Ski -- nine races in 11 days -- with the injury before taking a month-long break from competition to rehab.

Though her wrist is better now, she's dealing with some stomach issues and dropped out of Saturday's 15-kilometer individual classic race at Noze Mesto. She said she quit that race in order to save energy for Sunday's relay.

"Even though I didn't feel close to 100%, I was able to keep our team in contention," Brooks wrote. "Today's race was a lot of fun and just the pick me up I needed after a difficult beginning to the 2012 ski season.

"It's been a hard road back but I'm looking forward to the remaining races of the season."

Reach Beth Bragg at bbragg@adn.com or 257-4335.