Hello Everyone,
I have finally returned back home so I can find my graduation card from Tara Gregg that has my username and password for this blog. Thanks to Tara Gregg for setting this up for me!!!
I will give you a little update of what has happened since I GRADUATED FROM HIGH SCHOOL. I was home for less than a week before I took off for my summer training adventures. In that short amount of time I tried to get off some thank you cards for all my generous gifts, and started packing for college. Some of my dad's clients were going up to Anchorage to visit family the next week, and they were only bringing carry-on's, so they offered to bring four bags up for me. As I went through my room, finding stuff to pack, it finally hit me I was going to college...... in ALASKA!!! I attempted to organize the things I needed, and the things I would need to leave behind. I ended up packing two 50 pound bags of clothes, a big bag of bedding, and a ski bag filled with all of my skies and poles. I sent most of my winter stuff up, but I probably will not need any summer stuff with the weather they have been getting!
A week later I packed up to head off to Park City, Utah for the USST Regional Development Camp along with three other Methow skiers, Jamie Devin, Casey Kutz, and Erik Bjornsen. All the top Juniors from around the Western part of the US gather
for a week of intense training in Park City. We took off, not making it far before the van broke down, about twenty minutes outside of Wenatchee. Erik, Jamie, Casey and I walked back to the nearest gas station, about four miles up the road and called our favorite coach in the WORLD, TJ Owen. TJ was picking up turtle food for her pet turtle, so she drove on out to the sketchy gas station and entertained us until we could continue. We later found out we wouldn't be able to continue until the next day. As long we were in the city we figured we would take advantage of the mall, so us girls drug the boys down there, and went on a small shopping spree!!! After rollerskiing the next morning, we
continued on with with our drive in a new van. Driving all day we made it into City of Rocks around 10:30, which is right about when we realized we forgot the tent!!! We parked the van on a flat surface, and each of us four picked a seat, spread out our sleeping bags, and slept in the van. We woke up early, an
d headed out to climb. Scott taught us some basics about climbing and we took off.
We climbed all morning, then once again hopped in the van, to drive the rest of the way to Utah. Arriving in Park City around 4:00, we quickly changed and took off for our first workout. We spent the next week waking up early for first workouts, coming home during the afternoon and resting, and then taking off again for the second workout. We then came home, showered up, ate dinner, and had some sort of talk every night from coaches, national team member, or U
S coaches. We did lots of running, bounding, rollerskiing, strength, plyos, and of course taking advantage of the tourist rides at the resort. Rosie Brennan, Elizabeth Guiney, and I spent our spare time baking a cake for Joanne Reid's birthday, which was one of the nights of the camp. We have decided to go pro in it after our successful hamburger for Matt Gelso last summer, and our cat for Torin Koos! We baked the entire happy meal this time. (everything edible). All in all the week went super well! One running time trial up Agony Hill (its called that for a reason!). We also got to do a sprint simulation at Soldure Hollow midway through the week, which was pretty fun! It's always good having the top skiers in the country living in the West, so it can truly work like a sprint race! There were some gnarly rollerski falls throughout the week, involving lots of road rash, but not too serious injuries.... luckly!!!! At the end of the week, the rest of my team took off for home, while I stayed in Park City with Rosie Brennan and Mali Noyes to get some more training in. For four more days we took advantage of the great training in Park City. We then drove over to Sun Valley for the weekend to get some training in with the Olympic Development Team, and see some of the people I never get to see!! (Alexa Turzian, Sophie Caldwell and NOAH Hoffman). The weekend flew by, and once again I was on the road! By then I felt like I had driven all the way around the WEST and back! I caught a ride with one of my skier friends Ian Havlic, over to Bozeman, where I spent the week training, and spending time with my sister. My mom, and Erik came down as well, so I had a way to get back from Bozeman! After three and a half weeks away from home, I FINALLY returned.....to my own bed! I plan on spending the rest of my four weeks home before I take off for college. Getting in some good training, and making some money!
View from Above
First day skiing at Hatchers
Steffi (one of the german skiers) and me
The Team before the snow came
Sorry I haven't updated my blog in a couple of months. I am now in Anchorage, Alaska going to college at University of Alaska Anchorage. It has been great so far. I love it here, Alaska has so much more than you would expect. I am living with two Canadian alpine skiers, and a German nordic skier in a mac apartment. It has been really fun with these girls. The Norwegian skiers live directly below us, so we spend lots of time with them as well. I have, of course, been learning lots in school, and finally figuring out the whole college system. It works quite a bit different then high school I must say! My team is GREAT! Everyone is super motivated and excited. The woman's team is stacked, 8 girls that are all very competitive and close. It will be fun to be able to ski races this winter with a team to work with! The coaches are great, very INTENSE and fun. We got snow here in anchorage some time in October. I believe we have been skiing close to a month now, so we are SUPER lucky. We have spent most of our weekends up at Hatchers Pass, which is one of the top five most beautiful places I have been to. All of these pictures are from Hatchers. I have my first race next weekend against APU skiers up at Hatchers Pass. Then the weekend after that I have my first official race against our rivals UAF and friendly neighbors APU in Fairbanks, Alaska. I will keep you updated
