Cross-country skier laid up by blood clots

FAIRBANKS, Alaska, April 2 (UPI) -- Cross-country skier Kikkan Randall ended up in an Alaska hospital being treated for blood clots instead of racing in the U.S. Distance Championships.

"This is by far the scariest thing that's ever happened to me," she told the Anchorage Daily News.

Randall's hips and left thigh became sore last week, which she blamed on a fall at the Canadian National Championships last month. She went to the emergency room in Fairbanks on Saturday after physical therapy failed to bring relief.

"It was weird to be laying in a hospital bed all hooked up to machines when two days earlier I had been skiing fine and thinking about racing," she said.

Randall was released from the hospital Sunday and returned home to Anchorage, where she is still taking blood thinners.

A member of the U.S. Olympic team at the 2002 and 2006 Winter Games, Randall won several gold medals at the Canadian championships in British Columbia.