How do you say epic in Swedish?

How many days does it take for big news to sink in? Apparently when you Make the United States Youth/Junior Biathlon team competing in the World Youth/Junior Biathlon Championships in Sweden it takes more then 3.
The team announcing ceremony felt suspiciously like a dream, and I still can't believe it actually happened.
At the team announcing ceremony they called up all the members of the team. As we stood at the front of the room, Vlad talked to the room about our travel plans and the trip itself. He then called us into a group to talk about what we were getting as members of the team. As Vlad put it "It will be like Christmas...only better...and ski poles, you get new ski poles. If bag not full when you get to Sweden, bag is full when you leave Sweden." More exciting then any of that is the thought that I'm getting the opportunity to go race against the best youth biathletes in the world. *gulp* Hmmm...maybe I wont think about that yet.
BUT (oh yes, there is a but), the goal is not to make the team. The goal is to go to Europe and beat some Europeans...and some Canadians...and some half Canadians (or am I the only one?)
With 26 days till we get to Sweden, the count down is on.

No Big Deal...

Hit 18 for 20, no big deal.
Won the race, no big deal.
Ranked 3rd for US youth trials with an average of 96.77%, no big deal.

So as you may have gathered today was a vast improvement on yesterday. I shot 90%, and skied my a** off. I was in the perfect mental place. I was the 2nd youth women to cross the finish line, good considering I was the 5th to start. I crossed the line spent, covered in snot and saliva...proof of a good race. I remained at the line to watch the other women finish, but my sense of time was seriously off. I had no idea how the results would play out. Clearly, they played out pretty well.
...and as you all know, its all about the swag. I picked up some sweet warm up pants from the prize table.
In conclusion, I'd like to thank my sponsors...OK my sponsor...OK my dad. Thanks.

Ass Shatter Cold, here in Minnesota they call it a heat wave...

Ass Shatter Cold: A phrase used to describe a temperature so cold you think that if you flick your ass, it will shatter.
A phrase that could be used to describe the current temperature at the race site. The people of Grand Rapids, Minnesota had their coats unzipped, I had all 5 of my layers zipped up...and I was still cold.
Miraculously I wasn't cold at all during my race this morning. I arrived in Grand Rapids Thursday night after an exciting drive (at least we only got lost once). Yesterday was official training and my first time shooting with my new stock (which was fantastic). Skiing went well and I love the course here.
My skiing in the race this morning also felt amazing. It wasn't tough to decide which skis to race on. My Fischer's felt like Ferrari's, my Madshus felt like horse drawn carriages. My shooting in zero was awesome. Here's a breakdown of my results from today's race:

• Finished 7th

  Hit 3 prone

  Hit 2 standing

  17 second off of 4th

  7 seconds off of 6th

  Finished at 91.07% of the winners

Overall I'm happy no matter what I placed as I don't recall ever skiing a 26 minute 6km sprint biathlon before. I'm very happy with my time.

Note: My dad also raced, and he did manage to ski the right course...eventually.

Home...and buried alive under homework

Well, arrived home on Monday morning early...ridiculously early. After an adventure trying to get from terminal 1 to terminal 3 (I don't think I like Pearson Airport anymore), I finally got home. My fantastic plan to sleep for the rest of my life was thwarted by school. Where, upon arrival, I was swamped by homework. Now a week later I actually have time to breathe...well sort of. I'm writing SAT subject tests tomorrow morning.
For those who are interested in how the races went that weekend...well...remember the bag of crap post? They were by far not my best races, but hey, gotta start somewhere. Overall it was a good week of training and I look forward to my next races to improve.

In Canmore...and apperantly looking like a bag of crap.

So we (being Biathlon Ontario) are here in beautiful Canmore, Alberta for an early season snow camp. The weather is just warm enough, the facilities are great the snow is...man made. Oh well, there's no snow at home so I can't complain.

The camp started Saturday, and since then Coach Michelle has been what she calls "beasting" us. The term "beasting" evidently refers to morning runs and yoga, followed by morning and afternoons workouts. We even had practice last night from 7pm till 9pm. Which while way cool, will kill you if you're falling asleep at dinner before practice even starts. All this "beasting" when combined with short meal times, and an ungodly amount of night-time trains running by will undoubtedly make you look like a bag of crap. At least that's what our coach says, thankfully she is merciful and we now have the afternoon off. Now I just need to figure out what to do. Perhaps I'll wander through Canmore.

One thing I can say though: at least I'm not at school!