Time Trial

The ball is now rolling. We had the first of our three qualifing races yesterday . It was actually a time trial with only the 6 American men and 6 women. We will be racing in an actual IBU Cup race this coming weekend. There will be quite a few more people out on the course. Last I heard there are 160 men and 130 women racers. You don't see that too often in the U.S.
Yesterday's race was a little bitter sweet. I missed my first shot prone and my last shot standing. Shooting 80% isn't necessarily a bad day for me, but of course wish I could have knocked down a couple more. I struggled a bit with my skiing, feeling pretty tired and run down. I am not sure what this was caused by. I'm hoping the time trial worked it all out of me and I'll feel better by the weekend.

The course here is pretty challenging, with one steep, wall of a hill, in addition to a number of other climbs. We lucked out yesterday with sunny skies for the first time since we have been here. The sun didn't stay out for long,however. Right now, as I look out the window, I see a lot of gray and a waterfall of tiny little snow flakes. The forecast is calling for snow for the next 24 hours, in addition to high winds. That will keep things interesting on both, the range, and the ski trail during tomorrow's race. Tomorrow is a sprint and that is followed by a pursuit on Sunday.

Lots of opportunity lies ahead in the next couple days. I will be working hard to make the most of it.
As always, thanks for checking in,
-BethAnn

Here are a couple of photos I took while walking through Geising, the little town we are staying in. It's always neat to look at the different buildings around town and see how well kept they all are.