Grand Rapids, MN

Yesterday was a 15 hour journey to get from Rochester to Grand Rapids, Minnesota. I left my house at 430am. As soon as we got to the airport, we were informed that our flight was cancelled and we were rebooked on a flight that didn't leave Rochester until 7pm, getting to Minneapolis at 11pm, which would have gotten us into Grand Rapids around 230am. After some minor begging and pleading, they found a different route for us through Hartford, CT. We ended up landing in Minneapolis around 2pm (as opposed to our planned arrival of 11am), so not too bad. We then got all of our luggage and loaded up the rental car for the drive up to Grand Rapids. About 30 miles outside of GR, I got pulled over for speeding. Thankfully, the Minnesota State Trooper took mercy on us and let me off with a written warning. Following that, we were back on our way and got to the hotel around 630pm local time. Remarkably, everything made it out in one piece, and the only thing we missed out on was getting on snow yesterday.

We were able to get in a light run around town last night. The town of GR reminds me of Watertown, NY. Apparently the Mississippi River cuts right through town as well. It didn't look quite as mighty as I'd imagined, so it must be a tributary or something. Either that or Mark Twain was full of cr*p!

Today was "official training", which is basically an opportunity to ski and shoot on the range. We skied the course a few times, did some shooting and tried to work some of the kinks out from the long travel day yesterday. The course is a roller coaster - lots of short ups and downs and hardly any flat sections. The manmade snow on the course is in very good shape, and should be fun to race on. It's also warmed up to the mid-teens (they had highs in the low single digits earlier in the week), so the next few days should be ideal for racing.

Tomorrow, the races kick off with a 10km sprint. The only remaining logistical item that Jason and I have to figure out is the USBA "same wax" protocol. Which is a new on on me at a ski race, but it's supposed to make things easier on the athletes. I think that also assumes that athletes have coaches at these trials to pay attention to stuff like this though, which we do not. So, that might be an adventure.