Nationals Pursuit 15k skate

I had a lot of guys starting not too far behind me, but my mindset was to only look forward. I figured I would go out and catch Brian and Graham fairly quickly. My start seemed fast, the level of exertion was high but I wasn't closing. In fact, Timo caught me. As we got into the bulk of the climbs I started to go backwards. My skis were noticeably slower than most. I basically blew up, and got passed by a lot of skiers. When a huge pack went by on the gradual downhills back to the stadium, I decided I could stay on it. As we started into the climbs again, I started to feel better and tried to move up the group. It was quite difficult as nobody gave me any room. Eventually I got to the front and shattered the group in the climbs. Heading to the finish, I could see Casey not too far ahead, but a bunch of the skiers I had left behind closed up again on the gradual downhills. I was 2nd in a big bunch sprint, despite a well timed slingshot move. The skis were just that bad. I ended up in 18th with a miserable 26th best skate time.