At Last...

SNOW!

It’s amazing how much of my life I have spent obsessed with the hope that those little droplets of rain falling from the sky would freeze and explode into an array of crystallized wonder beneath my feet!

“As I waited for the train to stop moving, breaks squealing louder than normal from the rain outside, I can remember thinking how much warmer it was underground. I always just assumed it was from all of the people close together, breathing a lot. It was warmth you could see escape, spewing from the metal -grates on the sidewalks or manholes in the street, almost eerily from below with no visible source.

Leaving the station, and climbing the stairs up to daylight and the hustle and bustle of the City, I saw it! A snowflake! My first snowflake of the season! I ran up the remaining stairs and stood face to the sky waiting for more. They fell slowly, drifting softly and peacefully onto the noisy and dirty street below. I knew it was here, Winter! I had been waiting all year for winter to return and it was finally here. As I walked the few blocks to my Grandmother’s apartment, I grinned and stirred with anticipation. Snow falling in New York City meant snow on the ground in Vermont. Snow in Vermont meant that I could once again ski.

I could hardly wait for that Friday evening when my parents would load our ski gear into the car and we would leave the bright lights and tall buildings of New York for the snow-covered mountains of Vermont. As we approached the George Washington Bridge my eyelids would get heavy with sleep as my mind dreamed of more snow. Leaving the City behind, we entered the black night of the country. I mostly slept during the drive, being rocked by the rolling and twisting roads that lead to the silent country. I could hardly wait until morning when I could once again ski!

Today was the first snow of the season for me here in Minnesota. It came with the same excitement as when I was six years old and the visions of skiing are at the forefront of my mind. We have a little over a month before the season begins and I am looking forward to life gliding around on snow once again!

Spoon Bridge and Cherry (Minneapolis, MN)
Going Home

I have to say that as excited as I get about leaving for training camp, I get even more excited about traveling home once the camp is over. I really look forward to completing a hard training camp and the relaxation and rebuilding phase that follows when I get home. This past training camp was one of the hardest I have ever done. We had almost 10 intensity sessions in the two weeks we spent at the Lake Placid Olympic Training Center.

Lake Placid from the Air (Bobsled run is the white line on the left)

Lake Placid is a great place to train. The environment is filled with the site and landmarks from the two Olympic Games (1932 + 1980) that have been held there. When entering the tiny upstate New York town you are greeted by beautiful rolling hills and the omniscient structures of the ski jumps. Downtown Olympic venues line the narrow streets and bobsleds are placed throughout Main Street much to the affection of the tourists, or even the CXC Team girls!

The Olympic Training Center, where we all stayed, is a bit off the beaten path but it is the perfect training venue. Plenty of good running and even rollerskiing from the doorstep, plenty of good quality ready to eat food, plenty of strength and conditioning equipment, plenty of recovery and rehabilitation access, and comfortable rooms. We basically have all the luxuries of a training Mecca! Despite all of these luxuries I still look forward to getting home returning to Minneapolis.

Minneapolis requires me to make a lot of sacrifices such as not getting as much recovery between workouts, paying for rent, food and gym memberships, dodging traffic on my workouts, and sometimes less than ideal terrain, but it is well worth it. I have a great group of extremely motivated friends who, despite having full-time jobs, attending medical school, or taking care of their young kids, can push me in my workouts and motivate me to continue training and living a very active lifestyle after I retire from full-time competition.