Poland World Cups and Paradise

My first World Cup weekend of 2012 is complete. Last Friday was the skate sprint. I felt pretty good and skied the course how I planned but I finished 35th, just one second off of qualifying for the top-30. I have been within 1 second of the top-30 three times now, hopefully I'll be able to find that extra second some time this season!

Saturday was a 10km classic. The snow was around zero degrees, that difficult temperature where it could be hairies, hard wax or klister. I went with hairies and they had some grip but were no match for the massive climb on the course. My body also didn't feel at its best. I finished the race in 55th.

The atmosphere in Poland was really fun. There were tons of fans lining the course and they were ecstatic when Justyna Kowalczyk won on Saturday. Saturday evening we went for pizza to celebrate Peri's birthday and the waiters brought everyone in the whole restaurant champagne to toast Justyna's victory. We got to watch the whole women's race on tv as we ate our pizza.

We left Poland Sunday morning and flew to Munich. We have been training in Seiser Alm, Italy to prepare for the next World Cups in Lahti, Finland. Seiser Alm is the largest high-altitude meadow in Europe! It is absolutely gorgeous and we are staying at a nice hotel. It is quite difficult to get here and involes putting on chains and driving across 6 downhill runs while avoiding skiers, walkers, tobogganers and horses. I have been taking tons of photos so I will let them do the talking!