Summer update 2!

Hello All, Summer update number 2!

 There have been a couple of exciting events so far this summer. First of all I got residency at the Lake Placid OTC. This was really the greatest news for me so far this summer. I knew I needed to be there for the extra workouts and support. The OTC makes it easy to eat healthy meals and recover, since now I have access to the recovery center and care. I have to admit upon hearing I received residency I most excited about the full size bed I was going to get to sleep in all year. Normally athletes are in old twin beds.

 I also got invited to national team camp! The ‘national team’ was flown out to the Colorado Springs OTC for a week of meetings, team building activities, and workouts. The experience is one I will never forget. The most interesting meeting all week consisted of a presentation on the SOCHI 2014 winter Olympics. It really made me realize that the winter Olympics are not that far away! I also really enjoyed meeting all of the USBSF board members. They were all really friendly and were much more passionate about bobsled and skeleton then I imagined. I have no idea why I thought they wouldn’t be passionate about the sport since they donate a lot of their time, energy, and money to the USBSF and its athletes…but anyways it was so nice! Being so new to the sport I felt honored to be there and to catch a glimpse of what goes on behind the scenes of USBSF.

Did I mention that we got free gear at camp? Everyone who attended camp got a free pair of sneakers, a rain jacket, a polo, a tank top, 2 t-shirts, and compression capri’s. Woo hoo! Now that I’m back in Lake Placid and back to reality I’m discovering that it is a lot harder to find a job here then I previously thought. I’ve applied to two restaurants but have heard nothing back from either. I’ve tried stopping by too…nothing. The original job I had planned to work at slipped through my fingers as they hired two people just after I got up to LP! Anyways, I’m getting a little stressed about not currently making any money. But I’m working on it. Thank goodness for Felicity!

 I want to thank Felicity Byington for helping to raise money for my next season. She is selling awesome pins for $5! Going to school all year and during the summer makes it really hard to work to make enough money to fund myself. I’m not sure how far I could get this next season with out her help! If you want to buy a pin let me know!!

Hello all,

The season has finally come to an end and I am sorry to say that I slacked off on updating this site.

The good news is that I had an amazing first season. During the second half of the season I competed in Europe for a whole month. I had 3 races in Austria and 2 in Germany. One of which was Junior World Championships! To finish up the year I competed in the last AC races in Lake Placid and placed 3rd at national championships. Unfortunately, the top 3 girls did not attend nationals so the places were a little off. If they had been there I probably would have been bumped down to 5th or 6th. Either way I’m happy with the results.

So looking ahead…

Even though there still seems to be snow falling from the sky it’s officially the off-season. Which means summer classes and lots of work. This drowsy weather makes the idea of school seem a little depressing. I’m hoping summer decides to show up here soon to brighten my spirits and darken my skin tone!

My summer work outs start on the 30th of April and they are in no way designed to ease me back into working out. The first program starts off with reps of ten. I’ll be suffering since I just took two and a half weeks off. I’m really looking forward to working out again. Not doing any physical activity is torture!!

Good news!

Because I finished the season as USA 5, I got invited to the national team camp! I get to spend a week at the Colorado Springs Olympic Training Center and participate in team building activities, training, and more. The best part…is it’s free! Even the flight!

Other good news! The Washington Post is writing an article on me! One of their reporters met with me and we talked for 3 hours. Very thorough! I’m sure the article will be very detailed. There is no set date yet for it to be published but I was told it would be in the next few weeks. So look out for it! I’m hoping it may help me gain some sponsors to help me out next season.

Bad news ☹

Speaking of funding…I officially have no savings left to fund next season. I’m taking 3 classes this summer to stay on track to graduate in 2015 but this makes it difficult to work enough to fund my season. My estimated expenses for next season will be at least 6 thousand dollars and I’m going to do everything I can to earn as much as I can. Unfortunately, I do not see how I am going to be able to reach that number with my school commitment. But we’ll see what happens!

The end

Overall I am supper happy with the season. I had…I believe… a total of 15 races. Which is almost double what the average season consists of! Most athletes get 8! As a new athlete to the program I was blessed with many opportunities for success.

The best part of summer training (besides the sun!) is that you walk into next season completely optimistic and fresh. After spending the entire summer working your ass off, your ready for the pay off at team trails. I want to take care of my body and work hard for the next 5 months so I reap the rewards when its team selection time!

I’ll have updates soon!

Calgary and Lake Placid

Sorry about the super late update!
A lot has happened since park city!

The team moved on from Utah to Calgary and overall we did pretty well. I placed 7th in my first race in Calgary but was beginning to become really frustrated. I always seem to find myself just out of reach of a medal. However, race two came around and I placed 6th! I earned myself my first international medal! The second day of racing in Calgary had less than ideal weather. It was at least -10 and snow was blowing in the track. The finishing times that day were at least a second slower so at first I didn’t realize that I had placed.

Sometimes when you have a clean run down the track you can feel your sled going that much faster and as you cross the finish line you know you set your self up well to medal. Other times, during runs with lots of mistakes, you call yourself and idiot and tell yourself you’ll do better next time. During my second race in Calgary I crossed the finish line both runs feeling like a retard skeleton slider. I skidded both runs and hit a few walls that I shouldn’t have…and yet I medaled. This is why skeleton is such a weird sport sometimes. Either everyone else had a much worse run than myself, (which could be true but I find it hard to believe) or the lines I took or the way I set up my equipment was more effective. Either way, during that race I never crossed the finish line smiling, but I ended the day with one ☺

After finishing up the races in Calgary we moved on, to our home track, Lake Placid. After being on new tracks for so long I was really looking forward to being back home, somewhere familiar. However, I was a little discouraged when I was not sliding as well as I believed I would. I was having clean runs but they were not fast. I finished my runs believing that I was going to be in the top 5 but I ended up placing 6th in the first race. However I slid a little better the second day and ended up placing 5th in the second race. Overall I was happy with the results.

I learned a lot about myself during this first half of the season. I learned my weaknesses as a slider and I know what I have to improve on to become more mentally prepared.

Mentally, I have to remember to be me. Worry about myself, slide for myself, and accept winning or losing as MY experiences and accomplishments. I have to learn to keep everything in perspective. I have to realize when I am making excuses, and when I just need to accept that no matter where I placed I learned something. Even when I do really well I always have a feeling I could have done better, and I really need to work on being satisfied with my results.

Sometimes I let pressure get to me and I forget to just enjoy the sport. I love sliding and I love the process of becoming better. This is not a sport where anyone can say that they do it for the money, or for the fame. So failure should not be severely mourned over. You still got to slide and you still got the opportunity to learn from your mistakes. Everyone is broke, and no one is famous. Whatever pressure is on me doesn’t matter because I am doing the sport because I LOVE it.

Moving on…

Turns out that my first half of the season had good enough results to open a few unexpected doors of opportunity. I have been given the opportunity to slide Europa cup for the second half! So starting January 2nd I will be traveling to Austria and Germany for an entire month! During this time I will also be competing in Jr. World Championships! Unfortunately, internet access where we are staying costs money so I will try write updates as often as I can.

Wrapping up 2011…

I am very happy with my progress as a slider this year and I made some close friends during the long periods of travel and competitions. School is also going well, I made the deans list at PSU! Thanks to everyone who has helped me out this season! Especially the Bluemont Winery, the Price family, Russ Collison, Mrs. Denale, and my parents.