Taking a Walk in the Rain...

Instead of a team building activity, today I went on a self-building adventure. I’ve been having trouble trusting my decisions about sliding because I have a fear of making the wrong choice. I’ve been getting caught up in the little stresses of training and not believing in my ability. For example, I worry about which runners to use rather than picking a set, getting comfortable and making it work. In the past I’ve always had better luck with keeping things simple.

My adventure was something I’ve always wanted to do but have never made the time before today. I hiked to the top of a waterfall that I pass on my way to Lake Placid every year. It just so happened that it torrentially down poured all day. I took the phrase “taking a walk in the rain” to a whole knew level! It was just warm enough to rain but cold enough to preserve the snow on the forest floor as the elevation got higher on the mountain. I rarely go hiking and I’ve never been by myself, especially in an unfamiliar place. It took an hour to reach the top because the path was flooded most of the way and I had to do a bit of trail blazing. When I got to the waterfall, I had a feeling of such accomplishment that I had actually taken the initiative to leave Lake Placid and do this in such foul weather conditions. The greatest thing was, it was the rain that made my experience so much more memorable. As I was standing next to the raging river about to descend over a hundred feet, I was too scared to look over the falls because the rocks were a bit slippery on the ledge. I was satisfied enough with just making it there. As soon as I got back to my car I wrote down what I got out of my experience today and this is what I listed.

-confidence
-independence
-getting it done in unfavorable conditions
-figuring out a path on my own
-having fun, and being happy
-watching everything flow
-being comfortable with being uncomfortable
-appreciating a new experience
-getting my feet wet

I felt revitalized when I got back to the training center. I’m ready to start this race week with a positive attitude. I’m looking forward to trusting my decisions and going with the flow. I believe in my ability to race well and I’m excited to get this show on the road!

Visit from Mom & Dad!

My parents came up to visit this weekend. I think they may get more nervous during my races than I do so we decided on an early trip up to Lake Placid. That way they still got to see me slide and I could relax and spend more time with them and not be so worried about race preparation. It worked out great! They even got to experience our first big snow of the year which included a candle lit dinner and no heat in the hotel room all night due to an entire town blackout! It actually made things really exciting around here. I wasn’t expecting to break out the ice scraper and unbury my car quite this early in the season but you never know up here in LP.

Sliding is still going well. I’ve learned a lot about different kinds of runners - which ones work on which ice conditions. I haven’t played with that as much in the past so it’s been interesting. Now I just have to work on being consistent with both runs because that is a huge factor on race day. It doesn’t add up well if you have one excellent run and the other is slow. There’s only 10 days left until the first race day! That’s still a lot of time to adjust and fine-tune my sliding.

Mom, Dad - Thanks so much for coming up to visit! I had such a nice weekend with you! I’m glad you got to see some fast sliding and was able spend time with my friends and me. Hopefully I’ll be able to call you with good news on race day!

Redneck Girls Weekend

Bree, Courtney and I went to Vermont to visit Marci (our most missed retired slider) this weekend... We had our own little redneck girls weekend and it was such a blast! We went to her family's camp, which was in the middle of the woods - no electricity and a really awesome outhouse across the yard! Within the first hour of being there, I found something that made me more nervous than any skeleton run I've ever taken (including the first trip down the track!)

First step to fulfilling our redneck status:


Shooting a gun for the first time in my life! I started with a 12gage shotgun, which practically knocked me over the first time I pulled the trigger. Those things are powerful! I thought maybe we'd start the target practice with something a little more stationary but instead we launched clay pigeons for each other... I hit 1 out of 5 and I about peed my pants when I hit that baby! Pure luck but I was satisfied with my single victory as well as the bruise on my right shoulder from the shotgun kick!haha

If that didn't make me nervous enough, we pulled out a pistol! Those are scary! This thing was so small it could fit in your pocket. The only thing I did was get in the stance and pull the trigger...I made Marci's brother-in-law do everything else...put it in my hands, take off the two safeties, take it out of my hands and I didn't 'move once. I did like shooting it better than the shotgun because it didn't have such a hard kick. I was pretty good at shooting the targets with the pistol. It was definitely a good experience... I'm glad I tired it with someone who knew what they were doing.

2nd step to fulfilling our redneck status:

We grilled some kick ass burgers and sat around fire pit and talked about anything and everything.

3rd step to fulfilling our redneck status:

BEER and curse words. We drank a ton of cheep beer and played the famous card game called "bullshit". I did not win... my poker face goes down hill fast after beer #1.

4th step to fulfilling our redneck status:

Drinking so much beer that you have to hike to the outhouse with a flashlight more than once in the middle of the night.

Fifth step to fulfilling our redneck status:

We ate eggs and venison for breakfast! Yeehaww

It's always nice to get out of the training center for the weekend. It reminds you that there is more to life than stressing over a person sliding three hundredths faster than you and it’s not the end of the world if you miss one lifting session… Thanks for having us to Vermont Marci! We miss you more than you know! Come see us at the track soon :)

Slide-A-Way!

Lake Placid has been so great. I immediately started sliding the first full day I was here (Oct. 3rd) and haven’t stopped. I’ve made a bunch of minor alterations to my sled due to some recent rule changes so I’m finally getting comfortable on it again.

There is still a ton to learn on the track. The weather changes so often in the Fall that the ice can be drastically different each day. For example, two days ago my fastest time was 68. 03 seconds… today I put down a 58.39 run. With a sport that is usually separated by hundredths of a second, you can imagine how big of a difference almost 10 seconds would feel on a sled. You have to be able to adjust your timing with each steer according to the ice conditions, which can be very difficult. I learn something new every day! As for my push… I’m super happy with the progress I’ve made over the summer. Things are starting to come together and I’m consistently practicing at my 2004/2005 seasons personal best time, which feels great!

Right now, there are only about 13 people sliding so the group dynamic is going to change drastically in the next two weeks. By Oct. 23 there will be nearly 40 sliders here. I must say, it has been nice with so few people. It keeps things simple and the sliding sessions are short and easy when you don’t have to wait so long in between each run. On the flip side of that, I’m really excited to see some of my teammates that I haven’t seen all summer!

We still have a lot of time to work out our kinks before Team Trials so the stress level around the Training Center is fairly low… although we all have our moments. I’m just thankful that I came up as early as I did because it has taken me longer than I had expected to get back into the swing of things on the ice and also adjusting to life at the training center (Lake Placid doesn’t have a built in beach and 80 degree weather like California). Just to keep things fresh, two of my teammates and I are taking a trip to Vermont to visit a much-missed retired slider, Marci, and spend some time catching up. I’ve learned that getting out of the training center as much as possible when the track is closed on the weekends is very mentally rejuvenating! I can’t wait! Check back soon, I’m sure I’ll have some fun pictures.

(Picture: The Skeleton track winding down through the Fall trees. Taken in the morning so the fog is still embedded between the Addirondack Mountains)

Lake Placid, NY

I'm back in Lake Placid. This is my favorite time of the year to be here... the leaves are changing, I'm excited to get back on the ice and slide, and I get to see all of my teammates that I've missed all summer. Today, between my workout and sliding session, I went for a walk around town and took pictures. I had so much fun people watching and snapping pics of the awesome scenery. This one is of Mirror Lake... last summer when I lived up here I would wake up early and jump in for a quick swim before breakfast... that's one thing I missed when I was in California.

Sliding has been going well. I have a month until Team Trials so I'm anxious to start testing different equipment and trying new things. Should be fun! That's all for now...