Nationals Wrap & Race Report #4

Let's get the race report out of the way first...

In summary: I skied 5 of the 15 km and then decided to rest my back.  About 3 or 4 km into the race it was clear to me that this was going to be a torturous event on my back.  As I completed the first lap I weighed my options:

1.  Try to complete the final 10km in pain.

2.  Call it a day.  Live to fight (walk) another day.

The choice was fairly clear to me... I didn't feel I had much to prove by fighting this injury.

I had seriously considered not starting the race since I felt like 15km with a recently injured back was a tall order.  In the end, I think it was my success at the sprint on Friday that convinced me to give it a shot.

This one isn't eating me up...  I had an awesome week.

So onto Nationals Wrap-Up

4 Events

1 Silver Medal

1 Bronze Medal

2 Good Races

2 Not Good Races

In the end I outperformed my expectations.  I feel that to come away with two medals after 3.5 months of skiing is a great accomplishment and one that I am very proud of.

I'd like to take a moment to thank George and Kathy for all of their wax work.  My teammates and fellow competitors for showing up every day and pushing hard.  Yoshihiro Nitta for showing me how far I have to go!  Tony for helping me get to two Nationals podiums in record time.  My sponsors:  Innovative Fitness for keeping me in shape and ready to rock, Rudy Project for their superior eyewear used in every race, Team DHL for supporting our team and the Momentum Foundation for helping me to reach another goal.

I feel as though I am on track or ahead of pace to reach my 2010 Paralympics goal.  At this event I hoped to establish myself as a contender for a spot on the National Team (qualification races are in December).  I feel that I succeeded in that goal.  

The downside of the week was obviously the injury and the two races that were sacrificed due to it.  This is a case of "#%!@ happens"...  Or, as Robin McKeever so succinctly put it, "You will have to learn not to fall."

Crashing is part of the sport - I crashed.  No, need to break out the violin.  There is little doubt that as my skills improve I will be less likely to eat snow...

So, with that I close the door on my first season as a Nordic Racer.  I will probably find the energy and time to give a season report at some stage...  but for now I am looking forward.

On the horizon (in the order they will arrive):

- Holiday - Kauai for 2 weeks starting tomorrow!

- Triathlon training - starting as soon as the back is ready (maybe 4 or 5 days for running and cycling, hopefully earlier for swimming.)

- April 20 - Sun Run

- May 11 - Cultus Lake Triathlon

- May 23 - Baby #3 is due!!!

- June 7 - Triathlon World Championships

Some photos from the week...

                           On the podium at the Banquet - Silver Medal in the Sprint Race

                           Yoshihiro Nitta (the Bullet Train) - Winner of all 4 races this week.

The Canadian Medallists in the Sprint - Mark Arendz (middle), Myself (right) and Alexei Novikov

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