The future in our hands!

Last weekend we had a classmeeting in my hometown Polvijärvi, a small village with 5000 inhabitants and only 40km's away from the big city Joensuu. Well, we were around 90 of us who were studying in the primary school the last three years 2000-2003. Now it was time to see some familiar faces, ca 40 of us.. long time, no see! A funny evening after all with a lot of laugh and interesting histories!:) I think the most "awarded" person was my classmate, a husband and three kids (at the age of 23)! eh... I've a lot of to catch up!:D (I'm just 21y, though)..

Anyways the evening was long but nice... Celebrating in the local pub^^' But from now on my job is to train hard.. It's my summerjob, my all-year work and it's my hobby and it's my passion and 24 hours per day. Eh, dunno where is my husband and three kids (and a dog)?:D



So back to the business.. Only one doubt.. Our dear coach Anatoly will be staying in Russian next year and coaching the russian A-team. The reason for this change was after all, family! You know, sometimes there are bigger things than just sport.. like love for wife:) So I appreciate his decision and after all it's not even making such a diffirence to our trainings. Actually it's getting better!!!:) Anatoly will be still writing trainingprograms, and will be for example training with us in Otepää in July and later with me in Ramsau. Instead of this nobel man, we got three new coaches to compensate Anatoly! And I think it will be working perfectly!:) shooting coach and everything. So from this sudden fright and fear that I'll end up coachless, turned out to be a jackpot!

I didn't have any fear, though. I had already been thinking several oppoturnities, most of them linked to an exchange year abroad, moving to Austria or near by:)) (what a surprise!:P) And like usually things are always solved out somehow^^' But it's not my current though. Even if it would be more than great to make it true, rightaway!!:D supppa schen...

The first 3-weeks trainingcamp will begin next monday after this weekend's celebration when the "youngsters" are leaving the school with white hats and the others finishing other educations:) So I'll be working as a waitress a whole day tomorrow, and maybe ending it with one drink at the city;) I just got the trainingprogram for the camp, and it will be tuff job to fulfill it! (with joy, however:))! so eh, thumbs up and off we go^^'

so everything's fine..:) now sex and the city...? (2;))

And you know, it's only three weeks to go to Midsummer's day, bright and sun all night along....;)



ps. pics from 2010 and 2006.. I know, you get only dumber after taking the A-levels (das Abitur!):P

What the spring brings...?

Heyyyy!
Long time no see^^' after the wonderful wintertrip to Sweden I had to head back to Finland to do the last exams and all missing schoolworks.. And of course the last funny race of the season, supersprint!:)

That was a funny one, with 4 shootings, supershort tracks and shiny sunny weather... a huge "lake" on the shooting range:D Anyways, that was a nice way to end the miscellaneous season with up- and downhills!
So it was time for off-season and recharging to the new one..

I did it by concentrating a bit to the schoolworks, and after that a marvellous trip in the middle Europe!:) so after celebrating the craziest week at the uni (before 1st of May!!) there are every evening going some party and the suit is always overalls! (for me the ugly yellow one).. :DD
But before the chilly rainy Finland overtook my bored mind I headed to Zürich and from there forward to Kreuzlingen, the city next to German boarders. That was a tiny chock when it was +25 when I arrived and -2 in Joensuu!!:D Loving sun<3

I celebrated 1st of May actually in Loney, Lausanne where my friend's friend had a small scandinavian party!!:)) It was really awesome to get to know new faces, and above when they all were funny and nice people!! I think I enjoyed a lot of this random trip to the southern Schweiz:) so around Switzerland.. Geneva, Luzern and so on.. I could say that the traveling is tuff job, but in this case it was brilliant. Nice views and good company..:) And how many of you has done morningrunning to Germany and back??;) or been at the gym where you have hundreds of different "powervehicles"!.. (and I used only a few of them:D) That's Schweiz!!!

So after almost one week in lovely Schweiz my german sponsor Steinbach picked me up from Kreuzlingen and we headed to rainy Meiningen. Then the day after to Oberhof to check the places...:) I had a short coffee pause with a biathlon friend while Manuel had some meeting.. It seems my trainingcamp in Oberhof in the autumn will happen! Even it's a bit unsure one, cause of other things... B-team trainingcamps and my coach will may have some other opinions..



Anyways, after Thüringer grillparty I headed by train to Paris!! Me and one of my best friends (from the early childhood.D) conquered Paris in 2 days. Louvre, Notre Dame, Eiffel, Champ's de Elysee and so on... And to mention we climbed up to the Eiffel by STAIRS!!:D hehe. Try it..,) I say it was a nice training^^' With hurting legs (from all this walking) we headed to Le Mans where my friend actually lives.. A beautiful city, warm sunny weather... what a gorgeous morning running in the near-by- forests:))

So then back to Finland via Paris and overnight in Helsinki.. My baggage arrived home after two days though cause of strike at Paris' airport!! So after this genious vacation I am ready to start training once again.. at full blast, the next 350 days, 24/ 7... you know.. this nice easy "work":D
We just had the first trainingcamp in Vuokatti..
The weather is perfect! +27c and sun at the moment! :) Yesterdays long training in our nationalpark Koli was one of the best ever!



Looking forward to the next weeks..

see ya later xox

Sweeeet Sweden!

So back to the story:)) or fairytale..

Well, I arrived to Östersund early in the evening, and stayed by a biathlonfriend until my friend who had been in x-c SM in Skellefteå would arrive to the city:) Anyways, early in the next morning I was supposed to head to Lima, 340kms south from Östersund. Swedish Champs in Biathlon! Luckily I didn't need to drive by myself!:) (Would have been cheaper, though. Got parkingfees 2x 600kronor (60euros) Nice?:DD) In the end I got an excellent accommodation in a very cheap price, thanking Erik Gradin very much!!:)

So we had sprint and pursuit in the program! the weather was nice and sunny and there were nearly 20 of women on the startline!:) In Finnish Champs we hardly had 15th! so how did it go for the finnish champion?:D well, I lost over 3 minutes to the top.. Okey, ACO and Helena Jonsson were so much ahead of others! with clear shootin ACO won 40sec before Helena, then there were a gap like 2 minutes before the third woman Anna-Maria Nilsson! I was 11th, with two misses in the standing. It was tuff battle from 3rd place to 12th!! a bit over a minute..not bad!:) I was waiting for the pursuit to be interesting.. climbing up the "murderhill" 5 times would "kill" anybody":D

Anyways, I didn't get this chance.. The arrangers wanted me to start together with ACO (in the guestclass!) so that was that. I hanged with Aco.. a while *grinning* then I got company from Helena in the first and 2nd shooting.. ( I shot clean, Helena missed one!:D) but after that I started to gather penalties. twice from second prone and first standing.. so I barely saw anybody on the track. Anyways last shooting clean, and I could ski to the finish as 3rd..:) The tracks were tuffer in pursuit as the sun smleting the snow, and all the upphills were like playing swampsocker!:D Comparing to the other girls I would have been 7th.. What is in the end quite good:) So that was the last race of this season if I don't get a huge eager to race after one week in Kontiolahti...

I stayed one night in Lima, standing in the rain next day cheering up the others:D Then we horried up to Östersund where the season's best race and afterski was waiting for us!.D Unlucklily we missed the down-hillrace (with Redbull and Jägermeister) but the big dinner was in the evening!! nearly 100 x-c skier and biathletes gathered together in a secret place to eat a nice dinner, then heading to the city.. afterparty:D I would say, really awesome evening!! And I did see many of my friends..:)) and met also some news! Thanks New Sweden Team for arranging this geniuos happening!.)

The day after I was skiing.. enthusiastic!! Was so awesome to be back in the city and ski on the stadium:)) Hopefully I'll be skiing here again soon.. At least in December in biathlon WC:))

Anyways I spent the evening by a dinner with my friends.. Then heading to Åre, the best skicentrum in Sweden(?).D I got invitation a day earlier, and without thinking more I wanted to join this miscellaneous group I hardly knew...(I'm not shy ^^D)! Anyways, it was really fun.. ! Living in the luxorious hotel on the top of hill, in a suite! Spa and afterski.. lot of people and marvellous breakfast, for free!!:D eh. Not bad, isn't it?:))

Next morning the prefect weather, clear blue sky and -2! A nice skitrip in Åre.. then returning back to Östersund:)) This is it! I just say, what a trip.. spontanious, hilarious.. And I have still two days to go!!:))) I don't want to go back to rainy Finland, where all snow has nearly disappeared and the boring schoolstuff is waiting for me..^^'

I really have to book a flight to somewhere warm or south after 1st of May:D Before that it's impossible cause of school and univesity celebration... eh.D Okey, We'll see... Now I'll enjoy the last days in lovely Sweden..:)

Adjö!.)

Season's ending..:))

Tjäna! Now it was time to update. It's been a bit hectic again, with the last races to this season and my trip to Sweden:)
After World Cup in Kontiolahti I managed to "visit" school and train to the remaining races. First in the program we had Cross-country finnish Champs in Kontiolahti. I was supposed to ski on Friday in the sprintrelay with Sarkku and on Sat we had normal relay 3x 5km! Well, briefly about the results, we got into the finals!:D We never expected that!:) In sprintrelay each team has two skiers (skating style this year) and each of them skies 1,2km at full blast.. then exchange and this 3 times per each!!:D tuff job I would say!!:) But to do it twice during a few hours... So we got the place 14th. I think it's very good among the world's best skiers like Saarinen, Kuitunen etc..!! and next morning I really felt like I had been doing something extraordinary^^' In biathlon you never had that kind of races! But how weird that sounds, it felt easier than in a while..maybe the sunshine and warm weather had risen up my spirit and musclework^^D anyways it was easy to reach my normal maxpulse.. It hadn't happened since december...^/ extremely cold weathers had taken the sharpest shape!

What comes to the relay on Sat. I took the second leg, and managed to bring us to exchange as 14th, having a good leg!! (oh, don't mention about the first exchange.. eh. maybe I was a bit "sleepy" cause I missed Sarkku's coming to the exchange area so that she had to wait me a while, me rushing past the girls in the queue:D) anyways, we didn't loose that much time:D we end up to the place 24th in the end, the last girl had just been sick so her goal was to ski into the finish! After all not bad races!!:) We'll have two biathlon races in April but let's see if there's any snow left then:D

Then I jumped into my car, rushed back to home, quick packing and coffeepause with a friend.. Off we go to Vaasa and early on Sunday morning to Sweden!!;) yeee. That I had been waiting so long time.. My coach wasn't really happy about my plans, but what he can do,) The season in Finland is pretty much over, and my urge to visit friends in Sweden was really strong. So after 500kms driving through Finland to the west coast I was in the night in Vaasa and at 8 o'clock (am) the pizzaboat headed to Umeå! (do not forget to change the summertime, "¤&#%%%!!^^) after 6 (!!!) hours of this horrible seatrip I rested a while in Umeå by my dear friend Anki, watching the last biathlon WCH race of the year!:) lovely! Congrats to Germany for the 1st place, to Norway for the 2nd place and of course to Sweden with the 3rd place!!:))

Then it was already time to continue to Östersund, accommodation still unknown:P That's in the next blog then...;) now off to sunshine and ski a while,) Ciao! I return here with some pics.. and stories from Sweden,)

Biathlon World Cup in Kontiolahti:)))

How could I describe the week... Awesome, marvellous, hectic, stressy, warm, cold, new experience, new faces, super athmosphere, nice views, cute guys, tuff races and extreme excitement...!!:D How come..

We arrived to Joensuu on Monday afternoon after trip to Otepää. at 4 o'clock I had to be already at the airport welcoming Canadian team as a Chief of Attachees:D of course my other attaschees were there as well, but anyways I wanted to do my job well:)
The same pattern continued the next three days as we welcomed team in the afternoons, arranging things in the hotels and so on.. I started mornings by "chief" meetings @8am and was training mostly in the afternoon with other athletes, until Friday! I thought our coaches had put me to the lists as a reserv.. Cause Sarianna had been a bit ill and 5th named girl Annukka was at that point in Pokljuka! But no way.. As you know Mari got some fever and "everybody" thought I could replace her.... But this small mistake, not being on the list and IBU-rules. No start for me!! From this point I could forget skiing and I continued as a attaschee and working for dopingcontrol, picking up the athletes from the hotels etc...

Never mind, I had a wonderful weekend:) Getting to know more people than what I would have done as an athlete. Racing on the hometracks would have been great, though!! I enjoyed my job, and last night's delivering of drinkingtickets..:D hehe. I don't tell who and what and how. I just say what happens in the parties, stays in the parties:D School started at 8am on Monday.. was really a horrible back to the reality^^' walking straight from the *** to the university.. with a dizzy feeling "I should be somewhere else":D Somewhere else.. could have been Holmenkollen. Would have been brilliant But it didn't really surprise me that they took there only a few.. maybe next year we will have only 2 places in the WC:D LOL. nice job^^' Luckily there will be some changes within two months...

My gorgeus little brother got his first chance in World cup!! He shot nearly perfect, only one penalty. Unfortunately he got some "sting" in the lungs during the second loop so the skiing was not normal.. Anyways, I'm proud of him:) He will get some new chances next year too, I'm sure!!:))



Now it has taken two days to recover from the weekend^^' I think I still need a couple of days to be normalfit:D This weekend I'll be working as a skiteacher, next weekend we have Finnish Champs in cross-country here in Kontiolahti! I have sprintrelay and relay in the program:)
Straight after these competitions I'm heading to Sweden!! Biathlon Swedish Champs in Lima... and then I'm probably continuing to Östersund to celebrate Easter:)) Looking forward....

Thanks all my biathlonfriends from last weekend! See ya within a half year again.. :))

xox

European Champs, part 3

What did I tell last time?.D since I wrote here last time had passed only 10 days.. but I've been "working" and running around the clock since then so excuse me for late updating:)



European Championships in Otepää ended with sprint and pursuit races in the lovely weather! Sunshine and minusgrades made me smile, although my own races were far away from satisfying level! In Sprint i got 1+1 penalties and ended up to the place 34.. my uncourageous skiing didn't bring me up on the lists. But there were at least one good point in that race, the last loop was fastest and only there I could try a bit harder skiing^^' you know, lactat can kill... 0_o

Anyways after three races I was already exhausted.. I was back to the hotel not earlier than 5pm. And what says our "genious" teamleaders (Not my own coach!!) "Everybody must be at the stadium for medalceremony at 7pm! wise move.. after race no time for rest, no finnish on the podium and outside -9!! great! And no other athletes from other countries there if not necessary!! I was refusing this foolish order but went with the others.. No wondering about the effects to Sunday! Other nice business from this armyleader. Come to knock our roomdoor at 7.30 am, when knowing we have a race in the afternoon..just saying " oh girls did I wake you up? lunch starts at 11am.bye!.. " If we had already known... Cause we didn't have any properly teammeeting either! we just found out the facts ourselves!! And just finally to mention, our leaders didn't understand a word in the teammeetings^^' LOL. I just say a word: disaster.

So on Sunday we had pursuit. I just have the same speed all the races! you know.. I could have skied 10 races one after another without a pause^^' anyways shooting was okey, except first standing! I thought I would be going to the place 11.. but they showed me the place 30!! last time they didn't fill it.. so from this steep small downhill I had to break fast to the last place and I think that scrambled my mind. Summa summarum, at least I got a lot of experience in these competitions. What i needed most was my relaxed skiing! these 100 weeks in the freaking cold weather didn't help either.. Anyways.. Now I'm on the road again:) unfortunately there are only few races left...




We left the city straight after pursuit so there were hardly no time for farewells.. pity! damn coaches! Luckily I saw a couple of mates here again in Kontiolahti World Cup..:) I missed some athlete's party, though.)

that's the next subject,) oh mann....

European champs, part 2

Greetings from the lovely sunshine!!! I just ended my best classic training this year! -3 and the superior tracks:) loving it!

What comes to the relay yesterday it was a pretty much fighting from the last place. Even though with better shooting we could have managed to reach even better places. This young team will get a new chance, though...

So penaltyqueens skied 5 times 150meters extra loop what doesn't really help when we loose already in skiing!! I myself managed to drop all the targets, using 5 reservbullets to hit my 2 misses^^ What comes to the weatherconditions it was snowing but temperature falling to -3c. Skiing is all the same! where the relaxed good technik? where's the hard-pushing girl what we've seen earlier this winter? dunno, only thing what I can do for the rest of the races is to focus my mind on shooting and not trying to try more what I can..

So tomorrow off we go for Sprint and then probably pursuit!.) Yesterday there were athelete's party, but for me it was only a small visit to the local pub and then I went quite early to the bed^^' good girl!

Finland got 4th place in mixed relay! Congrats.! My perfect-shootiing little brother skied the second fastest legtime and was amazing! :)) Proud of him, and also others in the team..!

Wish me luck, now's the time for the last chance to show....

..