Racing and painting (and having fun doing it!)

Well, I'm a bit late again with the update, but better late than never, right?  This time I'll stick with mostly pictures.  Its been a really fun last few weeks of biathlon racing.  I've been sticking with my goal of getting "excited" before races instead of "nervous".  So far it has been working well for both my my enjoyment and my performance.  It's sort of a chicken and the egg thing though...what comes first, racing well or having fun doing it?  

In Canmore I gained a lot of confidence when I got 28th in the sprint despite 2 misses.  It was a windy crazy day and I got a bit lucky, but it gave me a lot of hope that I could still be good at biathlon.
photo: NordicFocus

The mixed relay in Canmore was one of the more fun biathlon races I've ever done.  Susan handed off to me in 5th place, right with Norway.  I had a perfect person to ski behind!  I always ski better and more efficiently behind people.  I felt in control, and came into the race both times knowing that I could hit the targets.  I cleaned prone and left the range in 3rd!  I tagged off to Tim in 4th, right behind 3rd.  Tim kept us in 4th, and Lowell came from behind to come within seconds of catching Norway, who took third.  It was our best mixed relay result ever!  And it was such a fun race, both skiing and cheering afterwards.  

Smiles and sunshine after the race!
photo: Susan Dunklee 

In Presque Isle I went into the races with more confidence than I'd had all season, and I had my two best individual results of the year, improving upon my sprint in Canmore.  Biathlon is fun when you hit targets!  Its also fun when you have home-crowd fans cheering for you the whole way, especially when they're your friends and family!  The atmosphere reminded me of racing Dartmouth Carnival during college skiing.
photo: NordicFocus

My face is a bit frozen but I'm SO happy to have my best friend Courtney at the races cheering me on along with her husband Warren and her nephew and inlaws.  

My parents and aunt Carlie came to cheer and watch too!  

During these last few weeks I've been painting too!  My friend Corinne (Rin) and I have started an art challenge.  Each week we have a theme and we have to make a painting that fits the theme.  We're calling it the RinHan Art Challenge.  Its been really fun and motivating for me.  For week #1 the theme was to paint a picture from last summer.  This is one of the pigs that my sister raised last summer.  

For week #2, the theme was a self-portrait.  This is a painting of the selfie that I took on top of Heaven Hill in Lake Placid. 

For week three the theme was to make a bright and colorful painting.  I broke out my ink (since I was at home with all of my art supplies available) because ink makes for the most vibrant colors!  This is the view from Craftsbury looking toward the wind farm on the Lowell Range.  I swear the real sunset was this vibrant!

Now I'm finishing up my week at home in Vermont and getting ready to head back across the atlantic to Norway.  I officially managed to turn my season around in time to go to World Champs in Oslo, and I am ecstatic about that!  We'll have a one week training camp in Sjusjoen, Norway before heading to Oslo where the real excitement will begin!