jr. women course preview

Yesterday Alex and I got to take our first look at the Junior Women's race course. Our 4.3km course begins in Montana Village and meets up with all the other courses after about 1 km. We were pleasantly surprised that our start is on a nice downhill cinder path. However, the downhill doesn't last long and we soon begin to climb upwards. When we reached the half way point on our course we stopped to stretch and agreed that the course didn't seem too difficult yet. Then we ran the second half. With about a mile to go the course gets much steeper. The last mile is almost 100% uphill and it is steep! This section is definitely more what I had in mind for a mountain running race!
Other than previewing the course, the highlight of Friday would have to be dinner. There are buffet-style meals provided for all the athletes. In addition to the food being excellent (yesterday there was salmon), the meals are a great chance to see all the other athletes. It's amazing to look at a roomful of teams all with there matching team jackets on! Yesterday night we saw teams from Italy, Russia, Switzerland, Hungary, Turkey, Uganda, Australia, Whales, and Poland. I'm looking forward to seeing all the teams marching today at the opening ceremonies.
-Yasmine