First Races- Idre, Sweden- Oh sweet sweet Sweden

Hello all! Well, the first two races of the season are done. It's amazing how fast things come up! My sleeping patterns have been absolutely crazy since arriving here; I probably got about 3 hours on the trip over, 11 hours Tuesday night, 2 hours Wednesday night, 7 hours Thursday night and Friday and Saturday night have been not so hot with my being awake at 1 am until about 4 or 5. I may not have been perfectly rested at the start of these races, but that's okay, I did them anyways. Good training, right?!?!

SO the first race was on Saturday and the women raced after the boys at 1pm. It was a bit rough because those beastly boys cut up the track and softened it quite a bit, making it more challenging. I was starter 44 out of 115 women, which I was pleased with, and my wonderful Ukraine coach, Vilius, zeroed me. I hope thats his name....I am SO awful. Pretty much Ukraine men are: Vitaly, Alexander, Sergey. So, yo have a 1 in 3 chance of getting it right...pretty good odds I think.

Well, anyways, I felt alright racing, but not super. It seemed like I was just there, doing it. I could not push myself. I hit 7/10- 1 miss prone, 2 miss standing, which is a bit too many misses. I ended up 98th, which did not please me. BUT I was happy to be here racing getting prepped for the World Cups.

So that night I did not sleep again; Partly jet lag and I think also my mind was thinking too much about the season. Anyways, today I woke up at 10am because the race start was so late and I wanted to try and sleep as much as possible. I was starter 41 today and felt worse then yesterday, haha. But that's okay. Went out and did it and I hit 8/10- 1 miss prone, 1 miss standing. I placed 68th, a better placing than yesterday and 1 minute faster, so that was nice.

Now I am sitting on a couch in the hotel lobby with Alan Eason from Britain, listening to the chatter of the Lithuanians beside me. Oh how life is grand. Tomorrow, my Ukraine Papa and I are driving to Ostersund to get ready for the races there.

Bis bald!

xxoxox Smile!