Rewind

February 27, 2013

Rewind

Before World Champs I hadn't blogged in a while, so now I will rewind a little bit and fill you in on some of my other races.

My Dad flew out to Europe just for my race at Flachau.

We raced Flachau a few days after our trip to Egypt, so I felt rested and ready to go. However, I brought the wrong intensity to Flachu. I made a few mistakes near the top and backed off after these mistakes were made. I ended up 10th, which is my 4th best result to date, however I wasn't satisfied. I knew that I backed off, and I knew that there was much more left in the tank.

After Flachau, we had a few terrific training days in Maria Alm. We trained both slalom and gs and it was nice to get back on my longer skis!

Mitch and I found our new favourite meal in Europe. Often-kartoffl- which is a baked potato, with sour cream, covered with veggies and chicken. Mmm!

Finally, we headed to Maribor. Leading up to Maribor I struggled a bit with lower back pain. I didn't feel my back in the course, however I raced with foot warmers on my back to keep my back warm and moving.
I was excited to get back into racing, and I felt good in training!

The plus to waking up while it is still dark is that we get to witness the sunrise!

I have no more pictures from Maribor because I didn't make it very far down the hill. I was a bit slow out of the gate, but I had a plan for the run as a whole. As I crested the break over, I started to feel good. I was in a good place, my skis were biting and I was in a position to really push; and I started to do just that. I finally found that illusive feeling on my skis, that I have in training but have been struggling to find in the races. I had won the section between the first and second intervals, and was currently in 4th place. However, my skis got caught in my switch and I fell. I tried to get up to finish, but I continued falling.

I am usually quite upset when I don't finish, but that illusive feeling kept me strong. It kept me level headed that day and although I didn't finish, this was the first time that I have ever truly believed in myself.

After Maribor I headed to Vermont to visit Kevin, do some laundry and feel like a normal person again.

We went to see Keane one of the days.

And he was absolutely incredible live!

I finally was able to do my laundry. My final load before heading back to Europe was done in this dungeon...
This looks like a scene from a horror movie!

This is my sweet ride in Burlington, well actually the towel strapped over the back metal piece is where I sit.

FASTFORWARD!!

Now I am back at home after world champs. It is nice to be home with my family, my animals and all the comforts of home (aka real laundry!).

And my book shelf!

I returned home to find this...
A little lion.

He had to get stitches and they decided to shave him down. Now he is a cold baby lion!.... not to mention that we used to think he was fat because of his lustrous hair.

One night we decided to have a big family dinner! :) I love family dinners. As we were all settling down and talking there was a knock at the door. It was the doping control officers (drug testers). I thought that this might be a joke considering that I had been tested a week ago and this would be the 5th time I was to be tested within 3 months. It was not a joke, however the testers were very nice, so this always helps the process. And I got free cards... euchre anyone?
I was able to ski at Georgian Peaks for a few days, and my grandpa joined us! He is 81 years old and he doesn't just ski, he rips!!