The pre-race was as smooth as could be. I had Randy Gibbs waxing my skis, he waxed up three pairs, two to test for my race pair and one pair of easy-kickers to warm up on. I took them out and quickly determined that my new Salomons were going to be the best (next year's model that is mostly black). Randy came out to get the skis from me to touch up and I finished my warm up. I was a little nervous so I took my race skis back out for one more loop so I would feel super confident about my wax when I started. did one loop on them and didn't have a single slip so I gave them back to Randy with a smile.

I had put my leg sticker numbers on before warming up and now they weren't sticking to my sweaty suit, hmmm, I felt like an amateur, I should have waited to put them on until just before heading down to the start, oh well. I made sure I had skis, poles, number, hat, glasses and headed down to the start to get my transponders and shed my warm-ups into the plastic bag with my number on it. Once in the starting area I spotted someone with a jury bib on (pretty sure it was John Aalberg, but I wasn't really paying attention) and asked if I could just take off my number stickers since they obviously were not sticking anymore. He didn't disapprove of the idea so I peeled them off and wadded them into a small ball.

Almost time to start through the gates. I started to pick the snow out of my boots with my pole tip and a Salomon rep ran over to do it for me. He was gorgeous, I was thinking, "I... could definitely get used to this." In fact, I was very very happy that I used Salomon boots/bindings/skis at that moment. But enough about the hot Salomon rep, it was time to race and I didn't have any trouble focusing.

I was glad I knew my start time because no one gave me any commands. I broke the gate and started with some kick kicks before breaking into a sprinting double pole. A couple more quick kicks over the short hill and then double poled into the base of the first hill. Grover had told me that the third lane had the best kick on this hill so I switched into the second lane while double poling and then moved into the third lane where the hill started and there was a left hand corner. I didn't handle that lane change very smoothly and got a little out of kilter but but came right back to focusing on springing up the hill. It was a perfect hill for striding and I was almost sad to see the top where I pushed over and into a tuck. I took the left hand corner at the bottom tightly and was looking forward to the second hill. I skied up it hard, knowing it might be my last chance to stride that day. Hit the downhill hard and shot into the stadium. Now it was time to double pole. To my surprise, I noticed that number 49 was not too far ahead of me. I wondered if I could catch her. And then I decided that I would pass her. So I did, just before the finish. The last thing I had expected to do in my first World Champs sprint was to pass someone. Oh well. Lunged across the line because I knew every tenth of a second could be super important and I didn't want to end up with regrets in 31st or 32nd place.

The announcer seemed shocked when he announced that I had qualified in 23rd place, I guess he hadn't expected anyone seeded in the fifty's to qualify. I was just happy I would get to race again that night.

Got my warm-ups and then wound through the media gauntlet. Wow, it was like winding through a labyrinth to get out of there. Back to the wax cabin where we had stationary bikes to cool down on. Cool down, change, then down to the athlete hang out room inside the dome where Aaron Saari, our PT, had a massage table set up. I had him give me a light rub over and then I read my book until it was time to get going again.

Back out to test skis. I was in the fifth and last quarterfinal so I only had a short window to ski. Decided my skis were a hair too slick at the top of the first hill. I gave my skis back to Randy to fix and he said they'd be ready for me to pick up on my way to the start. I wasn't concerned about not skiing on my race wax until the race. You've got to be able to trust your wax techs to know how to wax and you've got to be able to trust yourself to know exactly how you want your skis and to be able to communicate that.

Ready to go again. This time I waited to put on my sticker numbers. On my way down through the tunnel into the stadium, I realized (with a mild panic) that I hadn't re-applied my lip gloss since I had left the hotel at 2pm. Oh no, Compton will be disappointed in me. And then on the start line I realized that they were doing a zoom in on every athlete as they introduced them on the line. Whatever, ignore the cameras. (Although Doug did take a pic of me up on the big screen and it's in the article below.)

Then it was start time and the gates sprung open in front of us (after one false start be the girl next to me) and we were off! I was surprised by how manageable the pace was and, in fact, had to slow up at the base of the hill because I was running up on the heels of the girl in front of me. Up the second hill I came over in third and down into the stadium. I got passed in the stadium and came in fifth but only a second or so behind the winner. So that was it for me, but I was still pretty happy.

I realized that these girls weren't actually scary fast and that I can compete with them. Maybe people have tried to tell me that before, but I finally really believe it myself. I raced reactively, I was watching the other girls, expecting to just try and keep up. Next time around I'll be racing proactively and won't be afraid to throw down where I want to on the course.

And the best part was getting to see my parents and little sister after the race!

US Ski Team Article, Doug Haney