2009 Women’s Skeleton Athlete of the Year

Last night we had our big annual gala to celebrate the year. The USOC in conjunction with the USBSF put on a fantastic event. All of the athletes, staff and board members got dressed up to celebrate a successful season and enjoyed a little socializing and delicious food J

It’s rare to see our bunch not in spandex so, like always, I was busy running around taking a ton of pictures. This night was extra special for me from the moment I walked in the door and literally saw my face on a wine bottle… how cool! Our federation made special team bottles with each world cup athlete printed on the label.

As the night went on, it came time to give out the awards. Women’s Skeleton was up next and I was excited to see who it would be. They reveal the recipient with a slide show of pictures of that person and when my face came on the big screen… I was truly shocked! I was on the World Cup tour for such a short time I never thought I would have made that kind of an impact. I guess the feelings of disbelief, excitement, and honor were the perfect combination for tears of joy. What an amazing and surreal moment for me. I had to start my acceptance speech with… “I was just told there’s no crying in Skeleton…” haha.

Wow, what a night… I’ll tell you more about it later but I have to be on a bus to the running track in 10min! They keep us on a busy schedule here at our team camp!!