Gorgeous day for skiing today, sunny and warm. I had some last minute requests for wax adjustments that kept Nathan and Malcolm on their toes, but they got it to my liking comfortably in time for my start. Even though it wasn't super warm & we had been training on hard wax, we raced on uncovered klister.

I started out fast and covered the first kilometer in no time, okay, so it was almost all downhill, which made it easy to go fast. The second km was more flat & rolling- still fast. The third km had the climbs. I felt solid on the climbs, striding for the most part and breaking into a quick, smooth herringbone on the steeper pitches. Then the fourth km hit and my body blew up, Ashley Quiggle, who started 30 sec in front of me, passed me back and I momentarily fell off her pace, it was hard to keep moving. After a really tough half km I managed to pick it up again for the last 1.5km & passed Ashley back about 250m before the finish. Still a good finish, 8th place. Tomorrow will be the 15km skate. I need to remember to start conservatively, it's been a while since I've had to race at 7200'.