Oh Snow!

It was raining Christmas morning. Skiing was not the greatest and the range was closed. I had smacked my head hard on the wall during the night (Who knows what I was dreaming about) and for some reason I had no electricity in my room.

But then....lunch! Yes, things are looking up. A nice Christmas lunch out with 4 Brazilians, 1 brit, and 7 Aussies. Oh, and me, the Kiwi. Nice lunch and for dessert they gave us Heiße leibe. For those of you Germans giggling out there, "Hot love" was a great dessert (but strangely enough it was ice cream, not so hot).

Back to the accommodation and Mum and Dad opened their Christmas presents I gave them on Skype. So, we had a bit of Christmas together which was great. As I sat their watching them admiring my clay-bowl-shaped things I had made at the Borrowmans pottery studio (www.ofcabbagesandkings.ca) I noticed a change outside.

OH MY...It' snowing! Yessssss! So, thank you Santa for bringing us the great Christmas gift. Training today was absolutely spectacular. Blue skies, no clouds, perfect snow, around -10. Beautiful!

Christmas in a Cupboard

Christmas Eve- 2010- I am in Obertilliach, Austria in my cupboard size room. Today my father called me on Skype and my mother called my father from work on the home phone, so I was talking to my mother on skype through the phone while she was at work. Hilarious! My parents are awesome.

I drove from Alleghe, Italy to Obertilliach, Austria today. All the passes were open and it was a very nice drive through Cortina and Dobbiaco and all those crazy places. I would love to come back one day and road bike here, gorgeous!

So now I am all settled in in Obertilliach. My bathroom is bigger than my bedroom and I have no kitchen, or plug ins. I think I am in an old cupboard space or something. Oh goodness, how hilarious.

My last race in Pokjluka was not great. I woke up with a very sore quad and could not walk up or down stairs very easily. I raced on it in tough conditions and it was painful. I also did not shoot very well; 6/10. It was the most dissappointing race of the season, BUT you can always learn. I learned that falling on your tailbone in Hochfilzen can then cause problems later on in other parts of your body.

At least, this is what the Italian physio told me. He was amazing. There was one physio in this whole valley and he saw me 3 days in a row and fixed me. I walked in and he said 'Its your back'. He did not even look at my leg. Superstar? I think so! So he massaged and heated and zapped and lazered my back and now my pain is gone and I feel great! Go random man in the middle of nowhere! Woo!

I went for a nice ski in the rain today, and real training starts tomorrow. Christmas day! The greatest gift would be snow, not rain! (except for maybe world Happiness and love for everyone).

So, MERRY CHRISTMAS and I hope all your wished come true!

Awesome Alleghe

I must still write about the Pokljuka sprint, but I am on limited internet. Right now I am Alleghe, Italy in the middle of the Dolomites. I have been here for 2 days and it is just a bit of rest time before i head to Obertilliach, Austria for more training.

There is no internet in the town and only 1300 people. It is so beautiful and a great place to 'get-away' as they say. As soon as I have more internet I will fill you in on the sprint, but lets just say it was not awesome.

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This is my 2nd X-mas away from the Fam fam, which is good as they are saving money with me away. Haha, I am hilarious!

Yay team! Stay awesome!

Sorry Slovenia, but your range doesn't like me!

Thursday- 10:48am, I started a 15km Individual in Pokjluka, Slovenia. Conditions were perfect- it was -10 or something, hard and fast snow, and I was happy with my start number (54).

Coming into the range everything looked good. The wind was a little bit up from the right so I went one right and hit 5! Woo, great start! Ski, ski, ski and I was feeling good and keeping up with other competitors. Standing, that was a different story. 4 misses! 4 MISSES- WHO misses 4? I was shocked and went out on course not so pleased. Okay, prone time, this is what your good at Sarah.....3 misses. OMG, I cannot believe it. That is already 7 misses and I still have one more shooting. Crap!

I was still feeling good on the skis and coming into the last standing I was thinking "Well, seeing as your standing is awful lets try a different direction and maybe something will happen". So instead of shooting C-B-A-D-E I shot E-D-C-B-A and ended up hitting 5. Woohoo and thank goodness.

I skied hard my last loop and ended up finishing 104th. 7 misses is so bad and I am not please with myself, but.....What are ya gonna do. Don't dwell on it, figure out what the heck you did wrong and move on.

Tomorrow is a rest day and then it is the sprint on Saturday. Hope life is treating you all well. Party hard friends!

Roaring Ridnaun

Ridnaun, I am not going to lie, is absolutely amazing. It is at the very end of a big valley in the Alps in Italy and it is beautiful. I was staying at the Schneeberg, which is a fancy hotel with big rooms, 3 course lunches and dinners and a huge Sauna area with about 15 different types of saunas. Luxury!

I arrive on Friday and had Saturday off of racing. Just went for a couple skis during the day and enjoyed myself. It was nice to just be able to relax for a day. I happened to bump into my coach in the hotel whom I had not seen for 3 or so months so that was exciting. I also bumped into two Kiwis- Phil and Olivia from Wanaka. They were in Ridnaun attending an IBU development camp. We ended up eating our meals together and spending some time together. It was great to see them!

For Sunday, the sprint, I was starter 17. I was excited to start so early as I never get to in World Cups. Right behind me, number 18, was Kathrin Hitzer, winner of the day before individual and amazing German athlete. We went into the range together and to my excitement I cleaned my prone and was out on the course before her.

My skiing was feeling great and once again Ukraine made amazing skis. Hitzer and I went into the range together again and I missed 2. 8/10 again, Im getting a bit bored with this number. Come on 10/10!

Anyways, I skied hard and ended up placing 46th. 2 mins 46 secs behind the leader and at the 10%. This is exciting at the New Zealand qualification is 12.5% behind in a World Cup. So if I have a similar ski race and a bit better shooting it will be awesome!

Now I am in Bled, Slovenia about to go for coffee with my amazing sponsor Manuel Steinbach.

Stay Classy, entire World! xoxox

Keine internet= keine sprechen

WOw, hello! So, it has been crazy since I last wrote! We had no internet in Austria and I felt very disconnected.

I left Sweden on Monday at 635am. It was so sad to say goodbye to my friends but I will see them again, so its no problem. I flew to Stockholm, and then Coppenhagen, where I had 4 hours to bum around. It is an amazing airport, more like a mall. The shops are all prada, Louis Vuitton, I dunno, I'm awful with brands, but all the highest end ones. It was a bit intimidating, haha, so I hung out in the book store. Nerd Alert!

I flew from Coppenhagen to Munich, where I got onto a shuttle bus with the Polish and USA team and we rocked it up to Hochfilzen. I was staying at the same hotel as Ukraine, and the same one as last year, Gasthof Obermair. It was great, but there was no snow and upon arrival it was raining. Not so hot.

On Wednesday and Thursday our prayers were answered and some snow fell. Very wet snow, but it covered the track and made it look a lot prettier (because that is really important when your racing, to have a pretty scenery). Friday was th sprint, and I was starter 67, starting at 1145am. It was a good number and I was feeling good. During my warmup I was running up the road doing some leg lifts and, I dunno, maybe my leg lifts are a little too extreme, because I slipped, flew into the air, and landed directly onto my tail bone. Wholly mother that hurt. My dad did the same thing a few years ago, so you would know Pops!

Anyways, I was so so sore going to the start line, but it was all good. My first loop felt pretty good, but the course was very very soft. I missed 1 in prone, and that penalty loop sucked. It was a toughy. I hit 4 in standing as well so 8 out of 10, but my back was killing me from that dang fall. The finish line was really tough because it was so slow and on an uphill. Nobody looked awesome finishing yesterday, thats for sure.

Because I was not in the top 60 I was not racing in the pursuit the next day, and New Zealand once again was not putting a relay in, SO I packed up my stuff and jumped into a van with my Ukraine Papa and we drove to Italy.

I am now in Ridnaun Italy, which is so beautiful, and I will be racing tomorrow in the Sprint. Woohoo! I also saw my wonderful coach, Janez Vodichar, and the Canadian team. Ballin!

Stay awesome Superstars!

Östersund World Cup- Sprint!

So, after the Individual the women had a 2 day break from racing. It was good, just having a normal training day, where I went for a nice classic ski and the men had their 20km Individual. Friday was official training again, and I was feeling better and better. I have now slept through 2 full nights, so I am now in the European rhythm.

Friday night, Östersund had a Christmas market, with a whole bunch of booths and such. It was really nice to go somewhere new. Whilst standing by the fire, I felt my World Cup accreditation fall from my pocket. As I am searching the ground, someone said "Oh no, the fire!". My accreditation had fallen into the fire! Who knows how but it was pretty hilarious. Anyways, now I don't have any World Cup identification until the next World Cup in Hochfilzen. So silly.

So, for the Sprint race I was starter 66. A great number, and a good start time, at 12:03pm. This race was much earlier because it was on a weekend and they wanted as many spectators as possible. That is why the Individual was so late, so people could come after work.

Back to the race. It was great. I hit 4 prone, and 4 standing- 8/10 hits, which is not amazing but I'll take it. I ended up 92nd, which is my 2nd best place in a World Cup ever. I also made the 20% qualification, so now I am all qualified for WC 4, 5 and 6! Woohoo! I also compared my times from last years exact same race and I have improved by 2 minutes or so. Which is pretty ballin, I think!

So, it was a successful day in Sarah Murphy's world. I don't think New Zealand is going to put a relay team in for tomorrows race. The whole team is pretty tired. So I am just going to go for a long ski. Haha. I leave early Monday morning for Hochfilzen, Germany. Woohoo, should be fun!

Take care, smile and have fun!!!!

Östersund World Cup!

Well, what a week it has been! I got back to Ostersund from Idre on Monday, the 30th. Back to Leif's palace which is paradise compared to any hotel. It is just amazing cooking your own food, sleeping in a wonderful bed and having place to just chill with great company. It is also only a 5 or so minute walk to the venue, which is perfect. Not gonna lie, Leif is one of the nicest people I have met!

The next day, Tuesday, was already official training for the first World Cup race; the 15km Individual. I trained with the Ukraine team, whom I absolutely love. They wax my ski, zero me, and let me travel with them for not a lot. Just an accreditation at World Cups, so I think they are amazing.

On Wednesday, at 6:52pm, I started my first Individual since last February. It is so tough racing so late because you have aaaallll day to just hang out. I would go to bed a bit later so that I could sleep later in the morning, and then wouldn't get tired being up and about all day. Anyways, the Individual was not a super race for me. My skiing felt better than in Idre, but my shooting was a bit pathetic: 1-3-1-3. SO I had 8 misses, that is 8 minutes added onto my time. I ended up 109th, but I heard 109th is the new first so its no problem.

Next blog ASAP!