11th in Race #3

Well the third race in Lake Placid was alright. I finished in 11th place, but I wasn't too happy right away. I was in 7th place after the first run, and was so ready for my second. I pushed faster, got on my sled and was ready to go. I had almost the same run as my first, except for the fact that out of one of the corners I must have been in a place where most of the other athletes didn't go. I was against the left wall and then crossed over to be against the right wall. This is normally great except most people can't do it. Since it was snowing I got stuck in the snow on the track and it really slows you down. It was an even bigger problem because it was at the top of the track where you are supposed to pick up all your speed. I just didn't really pick up my speed because I had a nice run.

The race reminded me of my senior year at the state meet. It was the hurdle race of the pentathlon and it was windy, I must not have been on my game or something because I four stepped between hurdles. I had never done that in my life. I was really disappointed in myself, so I took a few minutes but new I had to move on because I had four more events. So I will just take this race and move on, not let it effect me and just keep training till we leave for Europe in January.

I'm still proud of myself because it was only my third world cup race, I just thought it could have been better. Its never fun getting to the bottom and seeing on the time clock 5 instead of 1. Well Live and Learn.

It was so nice that Mom, Aunt Susie, Uncle Jimmy, and Evan got to come. They drove all the way up in a snow storm just to see me, I was so excited. We went out to dinner, good thing because the training center food has been so bad! It think everyone had a good time, we walked around town, they went shopping, and I gave a tour of the training center.

It was a great weekend and I was going to race in the team race today. Once in a while they do one male skeleton athlete, female skeleton athlete, one men's and women's bobsled everyone gets one run and they combine all four times. They had to cancel it though because the weather is bad and they don't want anyone out if they don't have to be. Too bad it was going to be fun! Maybe next time!

Lake Placid, NY

Well, its really nice being back in Lake Placid, there is a ton of snow on the ground and its been snowing since we've gotten here on and off though. After a long trip back east and no sleep then sliding in the morning its been a long few days.

We were supposed to have sliding this afternoon but it was canceled since all of the countries but us shipped their sleds on a transport truck to get to Lake Placid. The truck is late because of storms on the dive out, so no sliding for anyone. Its would be nice to do that so you don't have to bring them to the airport but we always bring ours with us so we can get extra sliding time. We are hoping they come this evening so we can all still slide at 7:30 or around then. Who knows though.

I hope we can slide, I need the runs here though because the track is so different from team trials. To change the track the add water on a lot of the corners and give the track more of a bowl shape. This basically makes the track easier, the track crews like to make the tracks easier because they take pride when there is a race and someone gets a track record. The track looks great and all, very smooth but we got used to it during trials and well now its almost like new. I still think most people will have more trouble than we are though so that's good.

I am currently in the process of moving my room to a room down the hall. I asked for a new roommate for the next housing period and so far I like it. Its just me and Courtney this week. I am trying to catch up on school work and finish my finals for my online class and hopefully do well on my accounting and economics test. I found accounting to be very difficult on my own so I'm not sure how well that will be. I still have some of my internship left and I don't know how I am going to get all this done but I'm sure I will do my best, especially because I have to!

Speaking of school work I should go start on my marketing final. Hope everyone is well!

Another top 10 finish in Second Race

Park City World Cup was great. The first day of official I pr'd both of my runs, I was so excited to be in the 50 second category. The next two days didn't go over too well. I just wasn't sliding well. I'm thinking it was the lack of sleep I was getting. I'm not too sure if I had gotten used to my normal roommate Courtney or if Katie and I are just on different time zones and pages. Anyway though. who knows I still ended up doing very well.

The night before the race there is what we call a race draw, your number for the race gets chosen randomly for you by a computer. They only seeded the top ten in this race and since I finished tenth in Calgary that included me. Lucky me of course I drew number 1, I wasn't surprised I actually it the day before to my teammates. Just like team trial 2 out of 4 races I was first. I must have been pretty nervous the night before the race because I got about 4 hours of sleep. My sisters will tell everyone I wrote them text messages asking if they would sing me a son to make me fall asleep. Well no one came through and sang to me, so I was out of luck.

Nerves aside, or so I thought I was first off. I wanted to have a good run. In team trails my first runs weren't too fast, but I made up time on my second one. Well I decided not to do it any differently for the world cup race. I got to the bottom and thought I had a good run, I really didn't make any mistakes, and then I noticed the time wasn't that fast. Well thats ok though I figured because I would just go faster my second one. I finished the first heat in 12th which I was still proud about, but I really wanted to be in the top 10 again.

I had a great second run, one mistake but my run was 3 tenths faster, and in my sport thats a lot! I moved up 2 spots finishing the race in 10th place.I was really excited, I got to stand in the winners box for a sled, until my teammate Courtney came down, she had a great second run as well and moved up a few spots! For anyone who was watching the race live, I hope I didn't look too funny on camera.

Overall I am so excited about world cup so far, and I am ready for the race in Lake Placid. I love this track. We slid this morning at 8 after getting 4 hours of sleep because of course our flight was delayed in Chicago.

Thanks for the comments everyone, and for being interested in me. I hope I talk enough about the races. If not and you want to know something else just ask and I would love to answer it for you!

The race is on Friday this week!! Stay tuned! Thanks!!

Park City, Utah

We are now in Park City, Utah and it is finally not -30 degrees outside. I must say I am extremely excited to be able to feel my face. I thought it had fallen off last week, but I checked and its still there!

The weather is nice, its been snowing for the past 2 days but we saw sun today. I never did venture outside though, but I heard it was deceivingly cold. We were able to slide yesterday, just the US team so it was great. 5 of us had and hour and a half to take runs. It was nice except it was so snowy in the outrun (where we break and then get out of the track) that I couldn't feel my toes by the middle of the session because they were soaking wet!

Tomorrow is the first day of official training. I am so excited for this week in Utah. I am really prepared for this race since I won the last race of team trials here by about 8 tenths of a seconds. Which is like winning a 400 meter or longer track race by a few seconds! I had never been that focused and relaxed all at once as I was during that race. I just need to find my inner competitor for Thursday, as funny as that sounds!

My roommate is Katie for this week which is fun! Normally though she is the one not sleeping and staying up until all hours of the night. But it seems like the past few days I have been the one falling asleep at 2 in the morning. I think I have it covered tonight though, I'm exhausted and we have to get up early to go to the track. I guess I will be heading to bed. Goodnight Everyone!

Top 10 First World Cup Race Calgary

Well I have to apologize for not writing my accomplishments of the first race sooner. The Internet in our hotel stopped working on Monday so I couldn't even write to say that the week of official training before and during the race was between -20 and -10 degrees outside without the wind chill. I tried not to think about how cold it was with the wind chill. You couldn't let any part of you face show or you just couldn't feel it. I must say I have never been that cold in my entire life. Just think, go put on a full body swimsuit that isn't wind resistant. Its not fun!

The race went awesome for my first ever World Cup Race. I had just about a perfect first run, putting me in 8th place after it. My second run wasn't as good and I made a few mistakes that cost me two places. I ended up finishing 10th.Even though my second run wasn't perfect I wasn't mad because I was so excited about how well I did. I had no reason to complain, not many people can say they had a top ten finish at their first World Cup event.

I was nervous, but I will admit not as nervous as I was for team trails. Its really hard to make our World Cup team and I was almost more relaxed to race in the World Cup. Crazy right!

I don't know if anyone had a chance to watch the race online, if you did thanks so much for keeping an eye on me to see how I'm doing! The support is great and I couldn't do it without everyone.

I'll actually keep posting about the week of training and right before the race. This Thursday in Park City, Utah. Its snowing here now its so beautiful!!