Last day in Sochi

So today is our last day here and we finally get to go home...well, not quite. We get to go to Vancouver and then on to Whistler for Ski Nationals. I get to stay with Team Ontario near Squamish. I'm excited to see my teammates and to race in Whistler again.

But first, I must talk about yesterday's race I guess. It was interesting again. I thought I skied it pretty well: kept the asthma in check and maintained a good pace. The shooting was a different story, however. I got to the range on the first lap, and I think I must have been breathing too hard as I missed all 5 shots, so I had to do 5 penalty loops, which was not fun. But I kept it together and didn't let it get to me. My second time in the range went much better: I missed only 1 shot, the very first one, and then fired off 4 more cleanly in rapid succession. I can't really tell you why it didn't work the first time or why it did the second time, but I can say that I need a lot more training in biathlon and with a coach, not by myself. Anyway, I finished the last lap as quickly as I could. It would have been a good race if not for the first round of shooting. Needless to say, I got no World Cup points as everybody else shot very well and skied way faster than I as always.

So today, we went up to "Laura" for the last time this year. Phil and I went for a 2-hour recovery ski. The conditions were super slow and it was very hot. But I made it through the 2 hours and here's hoping that it will be good prep for my first race at Nationals on Sunday.

Now all of our stuff is packed up and we go for a team dinner at some pizza place in about half an hour. Then we get ready for an epic day of travel. We leave this place at 1:20 a.m. tonight and fly out of Sochi at 5:20 a.m. Our first stop is Istanbul, then London Heathrow, then Vancouver. We get to YVR at 5:20 p.m. tomorrow with an 11-hour time difference. Andrea is picking me up from there and taking me to Squamish, and then we have 1 day to rest and get ready for 3 more races next week. I think those will be a lot more fun though.

See you on the other side of the globe!

Good evening from Sochi.

P.S. Robin just brought Colette and I a beer. This day is picking up! haha