Season wrap-up in drawings, pictures and paintings.

I somehow managed to not take any pictures in Kantiolahti, Finland, where we had the second-to-last world cup, and where I had my best sprint race of the season, scored my first world cup points, and qualified for my first pursuit!  I guess maybe it was because Finland was the least photogenic of the places I've been this year.  It had some stiff competition though--I've gotten to go to some incredibly beautiful places.  But it was a great weekend of racing, and I had a lot of fun racing in my first World Cup pursuit, even though I didn't shoot that well in it.  After such a low point as far as racing was concerned in Pokljuka, Kontiolahti was sudden upturn!  But then I once again struggled with the shooting in the Oslo sprint, didn't qualify for the pursuit, and my spirits plummeted once again. Biathlon is always testing my ability to deal with ups and downs.  Maybe I'll write more of a real wrap-up later when I'm less jet-lagged, but for now I mostly want to post some more pictures and paintings.  Here they are!

Looking out over Oslo from Holmenkollen

Hotel Rica, where all of the teams stayed together for the final World Cup. 

This is one thing I will NOT miss about living on the road for 5 months--hand-washing laundry in the bath tub and then trying to ring it out as much as possible and then it still ends up dripping all over the bathroom.  But somehow it always dries faster than I think it will. 

Going for a ski on the Holmenkollen trails. 

Norwegian fans lining the course. 

My teammate Sara is retiring now, and Oslo was her last World Cup. We had fun cheering together during the mass start races on Sunday.  Congrats on being done, Sara...but we'll miss you!!

Our shooting coach Armin is also leaving our team, so I made him a painting of Antholz, which is where he's from. 

One of our wax techs, Mattias, is also leaving (so many people leaving, its sad!).   Mattias is a great wax tech and also a lot of fun to be around.  So of course I had to make him a painting too!

And then I flew home!!  I'd been scheming and looking forward to my first breakfast at home for a long time...gluten-free crepes!  With lots of homemade maple syrup, of course.   Yum!