Happy Thanksgiving!

My nephew Will & I on Thanksgiving…seriously how cute is he?!

….from me, and this little chunk of love!!

I hope you all enjoy this time spent with your families as we celebrate all we’re thankful for!  I’m thankful for such supportive friends & family, as well as the opportunities I am afforded as a member of the U.S. Skeleton team. I’m also thankful for the military men & women who are overseas and keeping us safe during this holiday season!  Your dedication to our country is incredibly inspiring, and I appreciate your sacrifices!

The next time I post to all of you, I’ll be in Igls, Austria!  I leave this Saturday and will return (after a mini-trip to Barcelona!) on December 20th! Cheers!

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Back on the road again…

As I was on the phone with Southwest the other day I was asked the question, “where do you live during all of this (referring to my skeleton athlete status)?”

My response? Well, I guess I’m sort of a nomad…

Beautiful sunset in Newport, Rhode Island

At this, the customer service agent laughed- as did I- but the truth is, I’ve been here, there and everywhere the past few months and while my mail sent home to my parent’s house, I spend a great deal of time traveling from track to track.

Particularly this past month!

After team trials finished in Park City, UT I spent another week and a half there training.  I flew back to the east coast on Saturday, spent about 6 hours at home, and drove back up to Lake Placid, NY on Sunday.  While I’ll be up here training for a 2 week stretch, I was back on the road again on Thursday, this time to Providence, Rhode Island to watch my twin brother graduate from Navy Officer Candidate School.

The Ensign in Uniform!

I was an immensely proud sister watching D walk across that stage.  He’s seriously amazing, especially considering he had to go through 2 long months of OCS immediately after the birth of his first child, William Donald.  Donny will be home for Thanksgiving & Christmas and then will report back to Newport, RI to start Officer Supply Corps school in January. So proud of you D!

Now I’m back in LP (with a nice speeding ticket in hand…buzzkill!) and I’ll finish up my training before hitting the highway homeward bound on the 23rd for the Thanksgiving holiday.  Then it’s back on the the road again on November 30th, when I fly overseas to Austria and Germany for my first competitions of the season!

Donny & I near the bay.

 

I’ll be overseas from November 30th through December 20th, when I fly back stateside.  So, to all my friends and family who are local…let me know what your plans are for the holidays! I’d love to see all of you either over Thanksgiving or the Christmas!  Cheers!

Team Trials: Park City

Is it really November already?

Welcome to Park City! Check out those mountains!

Team trials/this past week have seriously gone by in a flash.  So here’s what’s been happening in my neck of the woods!

First off, a huuuuge thank you goes out to all of those who donated to my Rally.  From the bottom of my heart I truly appreciate your kindness and generosity.  This money will help to ease the financial burden I’ll come across this season.  In fact, some of the money has helped me to purchase my ticket overseas to Austria and Germany where I’ll find myself for my first competitions of the season.  Which brings me to….

…the results from the final team trial races!  For those who don’t already know, I was named to the U.S. National Skeleton team and will be competing on the Intercontinental Cup tour!

I didn’t finish as well as I had hoped during these races (but did have a PR run the night before!) and while I’m still a little bummed by that, I’m working on keeping things in perspective.  The first goal I needed to achieve was was to make ICC, which I’ve done, and now I essentially have a clean slate.  Team trial races don’t count for FIBT points (which are the points you earn for your finishes in International races) so we’re all starting out this season with zero points.  As long as I do my job and slide my best and the ICC women earn that third sled, I can still set out and accomplish my overall goal to compete in the Olympic Games.  It’s going to be a tough challenge, but I’m up for the task.

A snowy view from the balcony of our condo.

Anyway, on to the fun stuff! I’ll be out here in Park City until Saturday, when I fly back to the east coast.  On Sunday I’ll drive up to Lake Placid to slide for the 2 weeks before Thanksgiving.  I’ll come home for Thanksgiving, and then leave for Austria & Germany on November 30th.  So for now, I’ll enjoy a little downtime and stress-free sliding!