Germany and Slovakia

I was hoping to be better about posting while abroad, but unfortunately the circumstances have kept me from posting. While our hotel in Germany was very quaint and nice, it did not have wireless. So we were stuck using the lobby computer for quick email checks only. So I'll try and give a quick update.

Our hotel (above) was located in the town of Böbrach, about a 20-25min drive from the Langdorf venue. It was a great place to stay; we ate in the dinning room there and the meals were delicious. The venue was great too. The courses were tough, and the conditions were soft-especially since the women raced in the afternoon. The individual race went fairly well for me. I felt that I skied well, and though my standing shooting didn't go as well as I had hoped, my prone was excellent. The sprint race also went ok. Again, I struggled some in my shooting, missing one prone and three standing, but my skiing was good. In the race break-down I had the 20th fastest lap time for my last lap, which I was very excited about.

Both days I was down near the end of the results, but I learned a great deal in both races. Getting international experience in front of big crowds and with very competitive field (many of the women racing had raced the World Cup circuit earlier this year), is really what is important.

Yesterday we drove from Germany to Slovakia. Our hotel is just outside of the town of Brezno and about 25 minutes from Osrblie where the venue is. The courses don't look quite as tough as Langdorf (which is nice), but challenging none-the-less. I'm really looking forward to this weekend. Hopefully now with a couple European races under my belt I can improve on my results from last weekend. Regardless, I plan on racing my hardest and enjoying every minute of this wonderful opportunity.