James at the Pentathlon 2014

This was my first time doing this event and what an amazing event it was! 

After a huge weather warmup the day/night before the race and some rain, freezing rain, and snow overnight, the course was in surprisingly good shape considering everything. The sun was shining, temps around zero celcius but there was a very stiff wind of 30-50km/h blowing on les Plaines d'Abraham. Getting ready was a little chaotic, but it was due to my own organizational challenges - the race organization was very dialed in... and necessarily so, given the complexity of having singular transition area for all 5 disciplines, the finish in the middle of the skate oval, and easy access to the course for each discipline. 

Nat at the Pentathlon 2014

After the two last races I decided to approach the Pentathlon in a much smoother way. I didn't get to train properly this winter in between recovery from the worlds, injuries when I took back training etc. So yes I am not a fast skier or skater due to my technique, or lack of, but I did as much I could do to try and enjoy the race.

I decided to go there to aim for a top 10 women…I failed miserably.

The week before the race I got sick and that wasn't totally solved by the end of the week.

We left on Friday and got to Quebec City that same evening. When was time to go to bed I realized I had a swollen redness on the side of my knee that was pretty painful. I thought it might be a zit or something but it ended up being an infection (or at least it’s one of the possibility after a check in in the hospital two days later because the redness was expending). Anyway went to bed still in the mood of everything is gonna be fine. How can it be that horrible??