Nathalie at the Loppet 2014

It was my first pure ski race too and I was fairly scared.

The plan was to ski with a friend the whole 27km (skate ski). I knew she would be faster than me at the start so I would have to try to push hard but in the meantime it was a double poling start which I can't do very well. We were in wave D.

From the start on I lost my friend, she was gone...and I knew it would be a long race from there on. People all around me were falling on the ground, stepping on each others skis or poles and as the little group I was with was getting slower and slower I could see her going away further and further. 

I was fairly stressed so I decided to not panic and I just took it easy thinking that worst case scenario I could stop after the first lap (8km).

At the end of the first lap I didn't want to keep on going that much. It was a cold day which made the condition slow and I wasn't competitive which annoyed me. After a quick chat to my partner James who was cheering me on he convinced me to keep on going.

The second loop was the hardest as we were going on a trail more narrow, blue first turning into a black later.

Weirdly that's the part that I preferred. I actually had enough power to gain back some ground on people and started to enjoy the ski.

At the very end I decided I would pass a few more people so I sprinted (or what I thought was a sprint) and managed to get a last person right before the finish line, stumbling a little and almost falling in front of the crowd :/.

I finished my 27km in 2h23min which maybe not that bad for my technique capabilities so far skiing but I swore to myself that if I do it again one day I would be 1. a lot more trained and competitive and 2. a lot more used to have people around pushing and stumbling. Overall it was a great event very well organized though and the volunteers were great cheering on every single racer :)

Nathalie