Team Trials Finale

After four very stressful races, the results are in and….

…I made the World Cup team!

I’m sure most of you already know this considering social media has been a flurry with all of the results and such (and totally beating me to the punch with the announcement!) but my win in the final team trials selection race sealed the deal and I finished 1st overall!

Meg and I after the end of selection races!

My first race in Park City didn’t quite go as planned.  I had an iffy first run that found me in second place but still in good position to move up to the top spot.  Unfortunately my second run was pretty bad and luckily I only dropped one spot, finishing 3rd.  Kendall, a new slider to team trials, absolutely killed it and won her first team trials race while my former AUFH teammate Megan ended up finishing second!  Way to go ladies!

Going into the final race, I knew I had to step it up.  I really wanted to finish team trials strong and with a win, so I knew I needed to be on top of my game.  The ice looked considerably faster than the day before and I stepped up to the line determined to set a new personal record.  My run felt really good and despite a skid in low point (an uphill straightaway near the end of the track, and a real time killer if you’re anything but straight through it) I set a new PR!  The run had me sitting in first place at the end of the first heat.

I put down a solid second run and was greeted at the bottom of the track by a number one on the clock and a cheering Megan Henry!  We both exhaled and let out a huge sigh of relief.  Selection races were over!  We celebrated by heading over to Maxwell’s for pizza and a big ol’ glass of sauvignon blanc!

At the start

We had a meeting at 9am the next day to officially announce the National Team selections and shortly after, I had to race back to the condo to pack up my equipment and such before heading to the Salt Lake City airport for a 2:45pm flight back to Lake Placid, NY!  I got in around 3am and slept hard, finally!  I’ll be in LP for a couple weeks before heading home for Thanksgiving and then go back to Lake Placid where I’ll have my first World Cup race in December!

Thank you again to everyone who followed, liked, tweeted and in any other fashion supported me through these races!  Team trials races are always the most stressful races (even more than any international race I’ve competed in!) and I so appreciate all of the good vibes sent my way. I’m so thankful for my friends and family, and can’t wait to make my World Cup debut this December!

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Lake Placid Team Trials Races

What a week!

The past week and a half have been an absolute whirlwind! Between getting on ice, adjusting to a new sled/runner set-up, racing and now traveling, my life has been pretty crazy.  I’ve been up since 3am and am currently writing this post on an airplane to Park City, UT as we speak, so bear with me here!

Official training leading up to the races was pretty hit-or-miss.  Monday was a decent day of training, but on Tuesday, Mother Nature turned against us and gave Lake Placid a 60+ degree day.  It absolutely decimated the ice and everyone went 10-15 seconds slower than we had been.  We all took one run and called it a day as training was a wash.  Wednesday was much better ice-wise, but I didn’t have such a spectacular training day and was pretty frustrated and therefore pretty nervous for race day.

Megan and I after the final race in Lake Placid! What a relief to be halfway there!

I guess that little bit of nerves and hot dish of humble served up from the track was what I needed, because I won the first team trials race!  Although I wasn’t too happy with my pushes (read: slow) I had the two fastest runs of day and came out ahead. I was pretty pumped.  My fellow AUFH’er Megan Henry had a spectacular showing, placing 3rd!  All around it was an awesome day.

We raced again the very next day and while confident from the first race, I was still really nervous.  Those nerves were especially heightened when we found out the track was TWO SECONDS faster than the day before.  We hadn’t had ice this fast our entire training time.  I was second off, so as I stood at the line waiting for my turn, I could hear them announce the previous slider’s time: a 55.61. Yup, the track was haulin’.

I had a decent first run- minus literally flying through the air out of 12 due to a late entrance to the curve which my bicep is still pretty upset about- and slid a 55.59 and finished the first heat in first place.  Unfortunately I had a pretty messy second run and made a mistake up in the top portion of the track that cost me a great deal of time, and Annie (the individual who was in second) had a great run and was able to get me by about .13 seconds.  I finished the day in second place and, spoiler alert, Megan placed 3rd again! AUFH represent!!

After the race was when the majority of the craziness hit! I rushed back from the track to make my chiropractic appointment, and then quickly had to dismantle my sled so I could ship it to Utah before heading back into Sports Med for an acupuncture treatment (more on that in a different post).  I grabbed a quick dinner after the treatment and then began the tedious job of packing!  It took quite awhile to pack up my room so I didn’t get to bed until about 12:30am.  The 2:30am wake-up call for the 3am shuttle departure was brutal.  That oh-so-brief two hour nap before leaving was a total tease, so I’m really pretty rough right now.

Anyway, that’s the recap of the past week! We get on ice in Park City tomorrow, and then we compete on the 7th & 8th.  They’ll name the teams on November 9th.  I’ll do my best to keep everyone posted on Facebook…I’m not sure if there will be a functioning live feed for these races, but if there is I’ll be sure to mention it.  Thanks for all of the love and support, I can’t tell you how much I appreciate it!