Waiting on ol' man winter

The calender now shows a new year, which should put us right smack in the middle of winter, right? Well it hasn't felt that way here in Northern Maine the past few days. I am excited to be back up in Caribou and have been all reved up about getting a few weeks of good training in here. But between a lingering cold and the warm, rainy weather, I have felt a bit deflated. These are two things that are top on my dislike list, being sick and a snowless winter!
Despite the dreary weather and my marginal health I did manage to get out and check out the skiing that was avaliable this week at both Nordic Heritage and 10th Mountain.
I was at 10th Mountain on Thursday so I am not the conditions are the same, but while I was there the trails were in fairly decent shape. What I was most excited about was the shooting range. Half of the electronic targest for the World Cup are set up and running. The electronic targets allow you to clear and change targets by simply pushing a button. You can also program them to automatically rest themselves after five shots have been taken. This is really nice when you are shooting on the range by yourself.
Things are coming toether nicly up at Nordic Heritage Center as well. Quite a few more upgrades were necessary at NHC in preperation for the World Cup, so they aren't quite as far along as 10th Mountain, but all that they have done is looking great! The range has been moved back and left three meters in both directions. This creates a lot more room on shooting points one, two and three. The other half of the electronic targest are up but aren't hooked up just yet. The stadium area looks great, (exept for the lack of snow). While there isn't much for snow coverage anywhere in The County right now, I did manage to get a three hour ski in at NHC this afternoon. I was on my fish scale skis, that I love because I can ski in ANY conditions with them. They were perfect for today, skiing over grass here and there and probably a few rocks as well. Those skis can take it and I was very thankful for it.
I am here until around mid-week and then will head down to check things out at Nationals down in Rumford. The forcast is calling for cooler winter so perhaps Ol' man winter is still around. Let's just hope he can round up some badly needed snow for all of us snowbunnies!
Happy New Year to you all!
BethAnn

Spreading holiday cheer...with a snow storm!

I couldn't have asked for a better holiday gift then a great big snow storm! Before saying more I should first state that I was very fortunate to receive many great gifts from my family and am very thankful for all of them. But I must honestly say I am also very thankful for the snow storm that is going on outside right now here in Caribou. Things were starting to look a little too brown for the end of December.
Now that the big Christmas holiday is behind us, my focus is now directed at putting together an amazing racing season for myself. The races at Mount Itasca went pretty well, with the exception of the first race. My skiing is feeling good and my shooting is oh so close to being right on. I was very happy with my second place finish in the sprint race. I know I can put it all together now and excited about doing through the rest of the season.
So what is in store for the upcoming months of winter racing? The next couple weeks will be focused on getting some high quality training in. I then hope to be off to Europe to race in a couple of German Cup and Alpen cups. The competition over there can't be beat. I am excited to get a full season of biathlon racing in.
This is the next step in making a big jump in my biathlon career. This trip will be a self funded one, so I am in the midst of looking for people and/or companies that would be interested in helping out an athlete work her way to an Olympic podium in 2014. It starts right here for me. I have much to offer in return for your support! If you or anyone you know might be interested in helping me out, please let me know. All of your support is greatly appreciated!

Wishing you all an amazing Holiday, filled with lots of good friend, family and that cold fluffy white stuff!
cheers,
BethAnn

A little inspiration

The racing season is now pretty much in full swing. I am here in my home town of Grand Rapids, MN for the IBU Cup team trials at Mount Itasca. All my thoughts are focused on the races at this point. So, instead stumbling over more words to write I am going to pass on this very inspring youtube video. A very good friend of mine sent me recently and want to share it with all of you now. It nearly gave me goosebumps. What can I say, I am a sucker for things like this. I hope you enjoy it.
And best of luck to all the other Nordic and biathlon racers who are putting on a bib this weekend and throwin' down. Hats off to all of you!
-BethAnn

Fall/winter 2010

Fall/winter 2010

The 'bou

Caribou is where I am at. I am back and happy to be so. Although I am not here for much longer. I head out on Thursday to my home state of Minnesota. I am very much looking forward to not only seeing my family while I am there, but also taking advantage of all the snow they have and, oh ya, racing! Can't wait to race!
The last week at home has been busy, of course, but nice. The rainy weather made us all do some creative thinking for training once again. Thanks to the work of those at MWSC and Big Rock I didn't have to pull my rollerskis out once! Thank GOODNESS! :)
There is about a one kilometer man made loop at Big Rock, which held up through all the rain we endured this past week. It's been nice to join in with the MSWC X-C team for a couple workouts and a time trial this past Sunday. Despite being more or less on the same team, as the season rolls on it becomes harder and harder to meet up with our non-shooting teammates. I was glad to get to do so this past week.
The word on the street is everything South and West of us got snow yesterday. Here in Caribou it was mostly rain. Enough already! Things did turn to snow sometime last night and we now have a couple inches covering the ground again. I am going to dig my fish scale skis out and see if I can get some sort of snow skiing in today. Wish me luck and even more so...wish for more snow!
Happy winter to you all,
BethAnn

Below are a couple pictures from the time trial this past weekend. It was seven laps for the women and ten for the men. And I think everyone actually did the correct number of loops. Go team.