Last week was mostly rest and recovery, so with that I was hoping for good legs at yesterday’s race, the 5th race in the Swedish national Marathon series. Rättvik is only about 40km away from my home so I went there twice this week to train on the course, especially the last part which they had changed to from last year, to make it more tricky.
I was very focused on getting a good start, since it normally is a bit hectic through town before we hit the first 3km climb with 250meters altitude, this one starts after only 2km! I managed to get a good position as we started the climb and was actually in the lead from there to the finish, without me knowing it;). About half way up I thought Kajsa passed me and left me, so I thought I was in second over the first hill sprint. I was chasing very hard but never saw her. After a while people started to shout that I was the first girl but I just thought they had not seen her since she has short hair etc. I even got a bit irritated with my parents when they just shouted well done instead of giving me times….
Even though we started with the men in a huge bunch I did not manage to find any good wheels to sit so I was mostly on my own, except for one time when a guy sat in front down a hill and I was a bit too close to him and did not see that we were turning, I had to choose the bush or him! Luckily it was soft bushes in the ditch for me to land on after a summersault with the bike flying above me. I got up and reached for my water bottle and fixed the chain that had come off. While I was getting my stuff together Emmy passed me!
So I just had to get on the bike and chase. I could easily pass her and ride away on some single tracks. But after an easy gravel road section she came back with a big bunch of guys, I made sure I kept her behind me and on the next single track section I put the hammer down to ride away from her and not see her again until the finish.
When I came to the second hill sprint and the commissaries said I was the first girl I started to believe that I might win this, I still wondered what had happened to Kajsa though… I still gave my everything and it felt good to know exactly what the new ending looked like, and I could cross the finish line in first, around 2,5 minutes ahead of Emmy, to take my first win in this race (have 2 third places since before) and my first win this year in the Marathon series. It was a very sweet victoryJ And of course I got to know that it was a guy that passed me on that first hill and not Kajsa….:-)
Nice warm weather at the race, the guys are chasing;)
A bit surprised at the interview that I actually won:-)
The podium with Emmy, me and Angelica