Anchorage to Wisconsin to France...

The end of the season is still over a month away, and I've jumped back into the thick of it with a big schedule of races. After a little down time following US Nationals and a short, but intensive training block, I set my sights on the second half of the season. It was good to take some time to reflect on my racing, goals, and the ups and downs of life as a ski racer. Ultimately, I realized my true love of ski racing, through the good times and the challenging. One of my friends insightfully reminded me that the difficult times are so hard because of the passion I have for skiing and racing. So I suppose it makes sense that this path I have chosen to follow is the one for me. The frustration of not meeting my own expectations this season is a bump in the road, motivation to be better, to train harder and persevere.

With that in mind, I rebooted and planned a 5 1/2 week multi-stop trip with races in Cable/Hayward, Wisconsin; La Feclaz, France; Rogla, Slovenia; and Fort Kent and Madawaska, Maine. The whirlwind began three days before I left Anchorage with the local 30km freestyle Sven Johanson race at Kincaid- one of my favorite local races. It was a great race and the perfect tune up for my next race, the American Birkiebeiner. The Birkie, as it's nicknamed, is the largest race in North America, with around 7,500 participants. This year the Birkie was in it's 37th year, and it was the largest field of racers to date (registration actually had to close early because the limits had been reached for each wave). It was also a notable year for a few other reasons... Wisconsin put on quite a show with a glorious blue-sky day, perfect temperatures, a fast course, and the loudest crowd of ski fans I have ever heard cheering each and every person as they skied down Main Street to the finish.

The Birkie was a great race for me. 50km long- a point to point race from Cable to Hayward, Wisconsin- it suits my strength as a distance skier quite well! This year it was also part of the Worldloppet race series, a calendar of the best (and biggest) marathon-distance ski races taking place all around the world. Having had a great experience in the Engadin Ski Marathon in Switzerland in 2005- the only other Worldloppet race I've entered- I was excited to check another Worldloppet off my list! This year the Birkie featured a solid field of elite North American skiers, and I knew it would be a perfect start to my trip.

I am happy to say, it did not disappoint. I was warmly welcomed to the Cable/Hayward area by the president of the Birkie Foundation, Dennis Kruse. He helped me register for the elite wave and then generously offered me a place to stay at his beautiful home, conveniently located near the race start in Cable, Wisconsin. It was a fun-filled four days, with good training and previewing of the Birkie trail, ski testing, race waxing, racing, and celebrating! I had great waxing and race support and put down one of my best performances of the year, skiing to 2nd place in the women's field in a time of 2 hours 16 minutes and 49 seconds. I skied 44km of the 50km with a pack of women, which gradually decreased in size as we went. In the end, it was down to three of us with 6km to go. I skied hard, finishing exhausted and totally pumped with my podium finish.

5km into the 2010 American Birkie (L to R: Taz Mannix, Jojo Winters, Maria Stuber, Rebecca Dussault)

Photo Credit: Kelly Randolph

Two days-post Birkie I was on the road again. This time travel consisted of a 3 hour drive to Minneapolis, 13+ hours of flying (to Atlanta and then Munich), 2 hours of waiting in the Munich airport, followed by ~12 hours of driving through several countries. After being in transit for well over a day, and through numerous times zones, I arrived in the tiny town of St. Francois de Sales, France. By 10pm we had unloaded the vans, settled into our rooms, and were devouring a dinner of potato gratin. Shortly thereafter I was fast asleep, jet lagged, exhausted, and so happy to be sleeping horizontally once again.

Entering the tiny town of St. Francois de Sales- home for a week.

Since I’ve been here I’ve enjoyed fantastic skiing, beautiful scenery, exciting car rides on narrow roads, great camaraderie with awesome people (American, French...), and great food. While I've traveled around Europe quite a bit as a ski racer, this is my first time to France, and I've been really excited to experience a new European culture. Even though I basically can't communicate beyond gesture and mime, I've taken in so much.

One of the few houses in our small little town

Some of my favorite things about France so far include: the architecture- the blend of old and new; castles and fortified towns (I just can't get enough of that!); the incredible mountains and beautiful scenery; and, last, but not least, the food! The time I passed in the Munich airport was no big deal... because there was an amazing bakery right at the exit of terminal 2. There were bread, pastries, and gourmet sandwiches galore. I was definitely caught going back a second time!

Yesterday I got out for an afternoon to check out a city 25km from our tiny village, and again included food in my adventure. After checking out the amazing church in the town center and meandering through the cobblestone streets, we couldn't resist stopping at the patisserie.

Checking out the incredible architecture of the church in Chambery.

Standing outside one of the patisseries we found.

The afternoon wouldn't have been complete without an exploration of the local cuisine. The local pastry shops did not let us down with bakery cases full of croissants, macaroons, nut and fruit tarts, pound cakes, butter cakes, tiramisu, eclairs, linzer sables, dozens of varieties of cookies, bars, and more! As an aspiring baker, this was definitely the highlight of the afternoon and a good sweet snack for the ride home.

Yesterday we snuck in a little non-ski related adventure, but today we're back in ski mode with racing this evening and Sunday. In typical central European "OPA Cup" fashion, the team sprint races tonight don't start until 7pm (for men) and 8:50pm for women, with the last heats going after 10pm. It's not what we're used to in the US- racing at 1opm- but it's bound to be fun and competitive. I'm sitting this one out, having just carried a pretty high racing load over the last couple weeks of marathon racing. That, coupled with tons of travel, is hard on the body. When I decided to come on this trip, I knew that this would be a good race to sit out in preparation for the distance skate race on Sunday.

So that, in a nutshell, sums up my life since US Nationals. I put in a little training block after Nationals, and now I'm on the road being a ski racer. It's a pretty fun life!

Thanks for tuning in... Pending internet availability, I'll be posting from my next stop in Rogla, Slovenia next week.