Team Trials: Lake Placid

WOW.

Time is seriously flying by.  After a crazy two days of travel (I drove directly home after our LP races to drop off my car, slept for a few hours, and then flew out of BWI to Salt Lake City in the morning) we made it to Park City, Utah.  Today is our first day of official training as we race on Monday & Tuesday!

It’s crazy to think that we’ll be racing again in 3 days, thus ending Team Trials.  It feels like we just started!  I won’t lie though, I’m excited for them to be over with because they do cause a lot of stress and anxiety, and I’m just ready to travel and compete already!

On to race results!

I placed 3rd in both Lake Placid races!  Overall I’m pleased with the results, although I felt like I slid better during the training days vs the race days.  But I’ll take the result and move forward.  Providing everything continues to go according to plan, I should make the ICC circuit (also considered National Team) for the season.

We have slid 2 days so far since we got into town.  The first night was pretty hectic since we got into our condo around 3pm and had to leave for the track by 5pm for our sliding session that evening.  We were all pretty jet-lagged and exhausted and our first trips down the track were pretty sketchy, but it was good to get that first run out of the way.

Yesterday evening I enjoyed an awesome dinner with a big group of skeleton athletes.  We went out for sushi to celebrate Meghan and Alex’s birthdays after our sliding session. It was an awesome night, filled with great food and lots of laughter!

Anyway, it’s off to get some sled work done to prep for our sliding session tonight.  Thank you so much for all the continued love and support….it means a great deal to have so many people who have my back to cheer for me!  Think fast thoughts!

Cheers!

Post-poned!

So I totally promised a post…except we didn’t slide last night!

Our session was cancelled again, particularly because they’re trying to make sure the bobsled races go off without a hitch (they race Saturday morning).

Therefore, our first day has been postponed until tomorrow (Saturday).

More on Saturday night!

Shout Outs & First Day on Ice

Time for more shout-outs!  Special thanks to the following for donating to my Rally!

Greg & Jen Buck  *  Mike Tucker & Family  *  Shanna Muscavage  *  Cork & Mary Graybill  *  Ashley & Trinell Ficthorn  *  Ashley Kemper  *  Jenn Prevoznik  *  Sharon Poorman  *  Christina Faust  *  Hollie Kemper  *  Roger Herr  *  Ed & Jodi Hecker  *  Nancy Lewis  *  Sam Alwang  *  Steph Benn & Family  *  Bill & Terry Hecker  *  Kim Howells  *

And don’t forget, I have an anonymous sponsor who is willing to match the donations you make! So a little will go a long way! I’m 51% of the way there, and I have until Halloween to meet my goal.  Even if you can’t help financially (no biggie!) please pass the link along to anyone you can…you never know who is in the position to help!  Here is the link:  https://www.rallyme.com/rallies/253

Exit Curve 10 during our track walk.

On to bigger news…it’s our very first day on ice tonight!  We were initially supposed to slide last night, but a big rain storm on Sunday/Monday left the track pretty damaged, so the track was actually closed on Monday and Tuesday for repairs.  We had really warm temps yesterday which made for poor ice conditions.  Our track crew has been working incredibly hard to prep the ice but when it gets too warm, it doesn’t matter how well they patch it, the ice won’t hold.  So, in an effort to save our runners (which aren’t cheap!) the coaching staff made the call to cancel our session last night.  As bummed as we all were, we also don’t want to ruin our equipment on the first day.

Saddle work complete…I fit!

It also gave us one more precious day to get our equipment situated which I was very grateful for.  I’m testing out a new sled this year, but also had to make sure that my personal sled was situated too, and it took a lot of work to get them ready.  Yesterday was super stressful getting the final changes made and I felt like I was working under the gun to get them done.  With sliding cancelled, I was able to get everything finished and ready without feeling like a crazy person!  I feel a bit more relaxed and ready now!

Anyway, I promise I’ll make sure to post tomorrow about our first day! Thanks for following!