Back in Utah

We made it back safely from Calgary. The drive wasn't too bad, I think it took about 13hrs or so. We split the driving up between myself, Cassie and Becca. Cassie drove most of the way though, just like on the drive up. The weather was good until the last part of Idaho when it started raining.

We had a music party once we got into Utah, I was the DJ. Anything to keep us entertained on such a long drive. I am staying with Cassie tonight and fly back to Lake Placid Tuesday afternoon.

I'm excited to get back to Lake Placid and start sliding there again. I think I will take a few days off, Caleb and I might take a day trip up to Montreal or something like that.

Thats really all for now, just hanging out for the day, going to Cassie's parents house for dinner tonight and going t o play with her nephew.

Have a wonderful day everyone!

Another 3rd place..

Just finished the second America's Cup race in Calgary and I finished 3rd again. I had two consistent runs today, which is what my ultimate goal is. All in all I am pretty excited with how I finished today also.

There is a girl Tionette from new Zealand and the two of us always have runs within a few hundredths of each other. Of course thats how it was today after the first run she had a 59.71 and I had a 59.72 its crazy how that happens, one hundredth is nothing its weird to think about loosing or winning by that amount. She had an amazing second run though, I made a mistake or two so I stayed in third and she moved from second place to first. Its fun when the competition is that intense though and you are so close to someone. I'm glad when she does well, and she is glad when I do well. These races were funny crazy though because we pushed the same for a few of the runs.

We got the coolest trophies, I got matching ones since I finished 3rd for both races. I'll post a picture of the medal and trophy, I got two or each but only took a picture of one.

There is a party tonight (the FIBT always has them after most races) its convienent this time though its at the bar that is in our hotel, so we can go for and hour or two then go back to our room and go to sleep. We are going to drive back down to Utah tomorrow morning we will probably leave at 6 or 6:30am try and get on the road as soon as possible for this 14 hr drive.

I have to go start packing, we want to pack the car before it gets too dark and we are planning on going to the 4-man bobsled race at 6:00 tonight to cheer on our bobsled teammates.

I'm excited to get back to Lake Placid and just have some fun sliding time. My confidence is up and I am ready to just go slide on the Lake Placid track and love it again, since I didn't have the best time when we started sliding there in the beginning of the season.

Thats all for now! I'll be back in the States tomorrow! Have a wonderful weekend everyone!!

3rd place

Well we just finished the first America's Cup race here in Calgary. I took 3rd, which I am actually really excited for because I only had two real training runs before the race. Its funny I pushed faster in this race then I did last year during the World Cup race, and I have a sore hamstring now.

I had two pretty decent runs today, I worked on the parts of the track I find to be the most important. I have a few more things to work on tomorrow, but I am excited and glad to even be sliding here in Calgary.

I think thats about all I have for tonight, my sled is finished and I'm almost ready for bed actually. I have to ice a few more times before I get to sleep though.
Wish me luck for tomorrow!!

Interesting Streak of Luck so far this season

I have never thought that I am an unlucky or lucky person, just normal. I have now decided that I might have had a streak of unfortunate luck hit me. Its actually funny if you look at the whole month we have been sliding and racing so far this season. But hey things can only get better from here... right?? HAA just kidding the answer is: yes!!!! everything is getting better. I'm on the right track!

I am just going to sum a few things up from the past two weeks just to make everyone laugh because it makes me crack up, and why shouldn't my blog make people laugh!! Last weekend was the Park City America's Cup races, I raced both days, but if you look at the results from the first day my second run says DNS (did not start). I didn't get hurt or anything, I just popped the groove (which is what we put our sled in to start the run) twice. I was competitor number one in the race and since I was first off they decided to let me take another one. Then I popped the groove again. I couldn't get myself to take a third and pop again so I called it a day. Race number 2 was better, I stayed in the groove and had decent runs, they weren't horrible but weren't great. I finished 6th and just felt I built my confidence back up.

We left from Salt Lake to drive up to Calgary for the America's Cup, the drive went well, with stops it probably took about 14 hours. Three of us had given our sleds to one of the bobsledders who was driving up the next day, we found out as soon as we crossed the border into Canada that his truck broke down and he was only a half an hour north of Salt Lake. Horrible for him, and so unlucky for us. The first few days of training I just coached the boys and our one girl who had her sled. It was helpful I learned a lot about the track just from watching which is what I planned on coming to Calgary for as it was.

Oh the funniest part and I already forgot, we all thought it would be a good idea to search on Craigs list before we booked a hotel to see if anyone had part of their house for rent close to the track. We found this awesome advertisement spacious 2 bedroom and bathroom with use of the kitchen. In our minds that was great we could save a little money, cook for ourselves and not have an expensive hotel bill. Well we got into Calgary and about 11:00 and found the house and come to find out it was horrible false advertising. There was one bedroom, and a smaller bedroom which the woman lived in and her stuff was still in it, and a bathroom to share with her, and it hadn't been cleaned (it wasn't gross but it wasn't spotless). We spent one night there, 4 of us in one room with beds on the floor, its so funny we couldn't help but laugh about. So the next morning we went hotel hunting and found the best deal. So we are clean and happy now. I just had to share that part, it was too good to pass up. Thats how we try to budget travel, normally it works out perfectly, this time we had a little bit of a mishap.

The sleds arrived early Wednesday morning though so we got to slide yesterday. It was snowing but better than nothing. The only problem now is that for some reason my hamstring is pretty tight and I can't figure out why. So I'm taking it easy on the push and just icing a lot. Everything will be fine and I get back to Lake Placid Tuesday night so I can get into sports medicine the next day and just get my whole body in great shape before Intercontinental Cup first half.

Race days are tomorrow and Saturday at 9:00am. We haven't decided yet if we are going to start our drive back Saturday after the race and just somewhere halfway or if we will do it all on Sunday.

Runner sanding time, time to go get race ready and have an awesome day tomorrow. One of the people on the Mexican team keeps telling me to smile more, so I think I am taking his advice and I'm just going to smile at everything. Because as I said it can only get better from here!!

This years race series

Well I have all of my races picked out for the year. Obviously it is a little different than last year since I am not on the world cup team, but I am still happy with how my season should go. To start with I am racing the America's cup races in Park City, Calgary and Lake Placid. I am doing these races for more training and just to get myself feeling more confident racing. Then I am doing the entire Intercontinental Cup (ICC) tour. It is the tour right below world cup (I have to update my website they just added this tour last season). We start in North America, the first race is in Calgary, the next two in Park City, and the fourth is in Lake Placid. After New Years I head over to Europe to race in the Europa Cup in Konigssee, Germany and then race Junior World Championships the following week. There are 4 more ICC races that month, not too sure of the order for those I forgot.

As of today I finally feel back to normal on my sled. I realized the other day that my balance point was completely off. A balance point is what tells you where you should be on your sled, you don't want to be too far back because it slows you down, and too far forward makes you skid down the track. After I got hurt I was really far back on my sled, and I didn't realize it till about 2 days ago. I am sliding much better as of today and I'm just excited now.

I race tomorrow for the first America's Cup race here in Park City. I am first off, which seems to happen a lot when we race, but I'm ready to go. I am just glad to feel like myself again and be excited for the season.

Well wish me luck, I'm off to relax in bed!

Team Trials have ended

Well the past month has been a little rough. The first few days of sliding were going pretty well, until I hit the wall with my shoulder and left a big burn in it, and now a hole. I had to take about five days off from sliding right before Lake Placid team trials. I must say my timing is really horrible for most of my injuries. I finished the two races in Lake Placid in 5th and 4th, not my best and I knew I could have done better. I was a little disappointed but was ready to head to Park City to finish the last two races.

I thought Park City was going to go great. I was hoping my shoulder would be almost healed, but it had actually started hurting more. I don't want to describe in detail anything about it, in case people don't like that kind of stuff. So if you want to see a picture or let me explain to you how it felt and still feels call me or email me I will be glad to tell you. I will say when it first happened for at least the first four days I didn't look at it, and every time sports med touched it I almost fainted. I probably almost fainted eight times a day. It was rough. Ok enough about that, as much as my arm hurt in Park City sliding wasn't too bad. It didn't feel like last year, but it was ok. I tied for third after the first race, and was ready to throw down for the second, and instead I had a horrible race, I finished fifth. Disappointed again.

But I'm moving on and ready for my international races to start for the season. I will be doing the America's Cup race in Park City this weekend just to get more sliding and then I am headed to Calgary for the America's Cup again for more training. First half of the season I will be in North America and who knows if I do really well I might be able to get back on the World Cup team. But until then I am glad that I am still doing all of the races I can this year. It will be a lot of work but I am really excited anyway.

So for now if everyone could just keep there fingers crossed that my burn heals quickly, and stops hurting that would be the best.

First Day of Sliding!!

Today was awesome, it was the first sliding session in Lake Placid. The track was so smooth, the best its been at the beginning of any season so far! The ice was pretty quick for it being the first run and all.

My sled is amazing, it did everything I wanted it to do, I couldn't be happier!! I can't believe how cold it is now, there was a little bit of snow on the ground at the top of the track this morning and there's snow on the top of Whiteface! Crazy!! My new helmet is awesome also, its comfortable and it doesn't fog, its really light also, which is nice when you have a decent amount of G's trying to push your face in the ice the lighter the helmet the easier it is to keep your face out of the ice.

Yesterday was a good day, it was Caleb's Birthday, we went to Octoberfest at Whiteface and road the gondola to the top of little Whiteface, (which I didn't even know there was a little one and a big on) it was so high and cold at the top of the mountain, and windy I thought we were going to blow over!

Thats really all for now, have to go put some more tape on my sled then blow dry it to make it stick. Some of the tape decided to come off today, I hate when that happens its such a waste. I have to do a workout later also, crazy if you think about it, we just started sliding but we have to make sure we can do our workouts also to keep our speed and strength up.