The first day on snow was absolutely beautiful, perfect weather and perfect snow. I figured with my massive sinus infection that I would take it easy the first day. Trying to remember the Slovenians names was even difficult for me let alone trying to be right where i left off in March.  It went surprisingly well. Gilles didn’t want to overload me with information the first day, which was fine by me.

The second day still congested, jet-lagged and at 11,500ft wasn’t helping me at all but I decided no more easing back into things. I was here to train and that was what I was going to do. Gilles gave me some exercises to do and I could instantly feel a change. I did a bit of timing and I was slow. Disappointed but not completely down. The next day well, what can I say, it was unbelievable. I cut 3 seconds off from the day before.

Mind you I am the only girl with this team so I am comparing my times with the men.

All week long, struggling with my sinuses but loving the training. Everyday the weather and the snow was beautiful. Especially for glacial training.

We took a day off which I spent completely in bed to shake the sinuses. Hmmm, maybe felt a little better by the next training day.

The next training day there was a lot of fresh snow and horrible weather. We went up anyway. I was dreading it a bit as I still felt like i was going through a roll of toilet paper every hour blowing my nose. This day ended up to be the best day for me. I started out with a couple issues but then everything came together. My times improved even more and started to become consistent. I couldn’t be happier. I can’t remember the last time that I felt this good.

5 days on snow with a new group and a new coach and I can’t believe how fast I am riding.

It is thursday and we have had 2 weather days back to back which sucks. I am riding tomorrow then heading to the netherlands for and indoor, yes i said indoor race

saas-fee, switzerland

So the beginning of September has been probably been one of the best starts to my preseason I think i have had so far. Nothing like a little debauchery to have some fun before a serious training camp. I know everyone always thinks that all I do is have fun on the road but I do work really hard.

Friday before I left started the weekend with a gaelic football tournament. (if you are wondering what gaelic football is, definitely satisfy the curiosity and You Tube it). First game was pretty intense. A lot of full out sprints. But thanks to my trainer again, I survived the day for the most part. I do believe that I may have bruised or cracked a rib. Ouch.

That night I decided I wanted to go see the Killers at the Garden. It was sort of a last minute thing and figured we would just shoot over to the venue maybe a little late and maybe miss the opening act. Well my timing was not so perfect as when we walked up a couple people were walking out and informed us that the show was practically over. Oops.

We decided to see if we could see the last couple songs. We convinced security to let us in with some serious smooth talking (where we came up with it, I’ll never know). We promptly we to the elevator as instructed. Unfortunately another huge woman security officer stepped into the elevator and the plan was foiled. She was having none of the fun we were and we were promptly escorted out of the building. So I got to hear one song outside the doors. What i really wanted was the tshirt and low and behold we ran into a guy that “had an extra” (and extra large at that but i didn’t care) . My friend quickly whipped out ten dollars for the shirt and my night was complete. I’ll have to say it was possibly one of top adventures of living in Boston.

The next day I went out to the fields at the Irish Cultural Center in Canton only to find out that we had no game. I went back into town to fill in at a new bar. I was super excited about it. Unfortunately, it was not busy and i was sent home early. Not a good night to have right before an expensive trip.

Out to Canton again sunday to play 2 games as I found out when I got out there. In retrospect, this was probably not the smartest thing I have ever done. Although when it comes to over-doing-it right before a trip or a race, well that is sort of my style. By the end of the evening, I could feel a coupe sniffles coming on. And that usually means only one thing for me……SINUS INFECTION!

And sure enough I wake up in the morning to finish packing, and I have a full-blown sinus infection. And to the airport I go.

The 2009/10 season is quickly approaching. I am getting very excited, as well as very frustrated. My training is going great. I have been working out with a new trainer at Boston’s Equinox, on Franklin St.

Dan Evangelisto is, by far,one of the best trainers that I have worked with. He has definitely kept me motivated through the summer even with all the other stuff that has been going on in my world. Besides training with Dan, I have been playing Gaelic Football down in Canton at the Irish Cultural Center. SO I have had plenty of working out and am ready to be on snow. I am going to be in Switzerland for a training camp from Sept 7-19. I am so excited to get back on snow.

As for the frustration, the politics that surround sports remains a constant downer but this is something i can’t fight against. It is unbelievable that the US Team cut their funding and team size. Now, mind you this does not mean I am not going to the Olympics. This means that I  need to work harder at finding sponsorship to get me there. I don’t have the luxury to not work and concentrate only on training and I receive no team funding. So just for coaching and my own travel expenses, I am trying to find a minimum of 15,000 to get me through Christmas. This is not including me trying to buy new boards and pay for my trainer. I never expect one person to get me through this but I am hoping to get about 10 people to donate about $2000.00 a piece to get me through.

The fact is that I hate even the thought of even asking people to help me out, as this is something I have always done on my own. I have come to realize that I am trying to get myself on the same playing field as everyone else. The best equipment, coaching, trainer etc. I want to look back know that I did everything I possibly could to get myself to the Olympics. I know I have to go the extra distance because I am not 18 years old, have the team support, nor the sponsors… I am the dark horse in this race so to speak…But by no means does this describe my snowboarding because I know I have what it takes to be good enough to be there.I just want to put myself in a position to do my best, not only to participate in the Olympic games but to have the opportunity to medal.

After the PGS I wasn’t too excited about racing the slalom as history dictates that I don’t do well in slalom. Plus they were calling for rain, even better. The conditions were horrible and it was a game of survival. My first qualifying run was ok, i was in 5th. The conditions deteriorated so much from the first and second run that it was whoever could stand up the longest. I ended up qualifying 3rd. Very unusual for me. But I’ll take it. 

The conditions never got any better. But for some reason I seemed to bet staying on my feet more than other people. I fell one run which dropped me into the round for 3 and 4. I somehow was able to stay on my feet as my competitor fell.  I was 3rd but the first American which means I am now the US SLalom Champion!!! unbelievable.

So I haven’t written since my last race as I have been frustrated with the politics that goes along with any sport and I didn’t want to vent so I avoided writing.

We haven’t had a race in a month so I decided to fly to France for a couple of race for a warm up for the North American finals. My travel went fairly smooth and I even got my bags which was crucial because I flew in just one day before the race. Delta had been notoriously consistent on losing my bags so I was a bit nervous. The drive to the ski area was beautiful. I haven’t been to Europe in a couple of years so I was pretty excited. The weather was perfect. I tried to get a good night sleep as to avoid any jet lag.

The morning of the race was just as nice as the day that I arrived. The perfect spring day.

We didn’t have really any place to take any warm up runs but sometimes that happens. The qualifying went well as I was third. The course was a bit steep from what I have been able to train on and my form wasn’t great but it worked for the qualifiers. Te problem is it got worse. When a course gets rutted I have a tendency not to follow the rut line which is never good. Basically when you take too much of a direct line through a course that is rutted, it feels like it would if you were to slide you car sideways into a speed bump. As the course got worse, my riding didn’t get any better. I was making too many mistakes. So I ended up in the race for 3 and 4 instead of 1 and 2.

The first run in this round started off to be my best round. I was pretty excited until I ended up on my face. Not really sure what happened. I had a lot of time to make up. The final run was by far the best of the day. But I was able to only make up 1.4 of the 1.5 seconds I was behind on the first run. If  I could only stay on my feet….

I ended up 4^th but I was content with that. I do better when I go from race to race to race but this seasons schedule has been limited.

I again tried to get a good night sleep but the people in the room next to us seem to be loud for quite awhile limiting my sleep. I felt pretty tired the next day. I woke up to see that the weather changed drastically. It went from the perfect spring weather to a total blizzard. Normally I wouldn’t mind but where the race was located, made it difficult to run inside and warm up or to get more tea. The visibility was bad, so was my qualifying. I was tenth after my first run. The second run wasn’t as bad, not great but not bad. I moved up to sixth. By now the weather was getting worse. The wind had kicked up quite a bit. The officials said they were going to just keep the race going without the usual break we get between qualifying and finals. Sure they were. Instead we just stood outside trying to stay warm as they got organized.

Normally in a PGS (parallel giant slalom) you take 1 run on each course before you move on to the next round or eliminated. The weather was so bad that they decided to make it a single run elimination until we got to the final. Now in a perfect world this system might work but the hill has to be perfect in order to make it fair. This was not the case in this race as the blue course had leftover ruts from the day before. Plus we probably received 6inches of snow throughout the course of the day. In this new format the person who had the faster run in the qualifying got to choose what course they wanted to race on. In this case the red course was less tattered making it essentially faster of the two.

Fortunately for me in my first round I had the choice. I moved onto the next round.

Unfortunately for me, I didn’t have the choice the second round as I was racing the girl who qualified 3^rd.  The blue course was even worse than I possibly could imagine. I was all over the place and had to fight to finish. My competitor started to pass me but I was doing all I could. As she passed me I could see out of the corner of my eye I saw her fall. I made my way through the finish and again moved on to the next round.

But again I didn’t have the choice of courses as now I was racing the person who qualified 2^nd. At this point I was the only one who raced through to the finals the day before. I was starting to feel my legs a bit. And the weather was only getting worse.

But I jumped into the blue course, and things were going much better than I could possibly expect. I was ahead as I rolled on to the pitch. I found the line that I wanted to take when out of nowhere I hit a snowdrift in the middle of the course that stopped me dead and I flipped over the front of my board.

So this puts me in the small final which constitutes racing for the 3^rd and fourth. I again had to start on the blue course. It was probably my best run of the day. I was ahead.

Now I had to race the red course. At this point I was exhausted from racing to the finals the day before and the rodeo of today. I wanted to just be as relaxed for this last run and not going too crazy. Again I was happy that way that things started. And before I knew it I was flat on my face. I got up and had snow much show on my goggles I couldn’t see the next 2 gates. I did all I could to catch up but missed getting 3^rd but a couple hundredths..

So 2 fourth places for the last minute travel to France and it is good warm up for Montréal this week.

So travel back to the states seem to go flawlessly or so I thought. I get off the plane in JFK, go through customs, drop my bag on the belt to go to Montreal only to find my flight to montreal had been cancelled. Due to weather 6 hours before it was supposed to take off. Really? How do you cancel a flight that early? Anyway, I was told I was rebooked for the following day that they wouldn’t put me up in a hotel since it was due to weather. I wasn’t about to find out how much a hotel in NY would cost so I asked them to try to reroute me. After trying different options, they decided the best was to reroute me through Detroit. Seemed a bit strange to me but they rerouted three of us and I was upgrade to first class to Dertoit. Small consellation for the headache I had by this point.

Well the plane to Detroit was delay because there was no plane. Once we got on the plane we proceeded to sit on the runway for almost 2 hours. So much for getting to Montreal tonight. Instead of New York I was getting stuck in Detroit.

I got off the plane and noticed that the flight to montreal was delayed, so I sprinted (not really I walked) in hopes of making the plane. But no chance, even if I would have run. Of course there is never an agent when you need one. SO I spoke with one who was working another flight. He told me to wait a bit which turned out to be an hour… then promptly gave me my boarding pass for the next day, a hotel, dinner and breakfast voucher.

I at least got a good night sleep.

there is a little stress involved knowing that you get to race one world cup all season and you havent raced for over a month and all the bet of the best are there. but besides that…

The second run was better, not great but better. I started off more aggressive but had a slight bobble and had to get myself back in line. Not super fast but i was excited of the possibilities.

So on to the bordercross. training didn’t go well as i broke a binding and missed most of training. I was hoping to see how i felt with training the day of the race but this is not  course to blindly go into….but i guess i really don’t have to decide that tomorrow as my name was forgotten to be put on the start list… maybe there is a reason why this happened.

Anyway stupid stuff like this happens (maybe more often to me than the rest but what are you going to do.)

I am hoping to possibly get to do a work cup in spain but we will see… i am not holding my breath

This particular bordercross was big money but not too many big jumps. And in all honesty i would rather have the big jumps and not such a fast course. But I don’t have control on that sooo. The course in Tahoe was a slow start then it was like a downhill race to the finish. I haven’t down a bordercross since i injured my foot last year and haven’t been on the freestyle board as much as I wanted but I figured I would be fine. Well the second turn was the same type of turn that I injured my foot on last year. So my mind got the best of me….. all weekend. I just couldn’t find my groove.

Until race day that is. We were allowed one training run. I felt good. The first timed run….. not so good but we get 2 runs. The second run was going much better, that is until the end. I ended up too much in the “backseat” off the second to last feature and then fell on the next and slid through the finish on my back. My time was still faster than my first even with the fall but not enough to make it into the finals…… You win some you lose some.

I always seem to have a mid winter lull in my season… I hope this was the last of it. or maybe it was just because I forgot my lucky shirt…

There is a bordercross and I feel a bit ill prepared. I have not been able to be on the mountain as much as I have wanted to be as my struggle to get to the hill continues. 

The course is small, no big jumps and fast. I am having a difficult time with one steep banked turn. But tomorrow is another day and i will figure it out.

The mountain is not bad for the east coast and the snow is good right now. I was fortunate enough to train the Holderness school. there are good kids there and it is a very positive atmosphere. And I at least had some training time in the gates. 

Now i have to drive 6 hours to get to quebec for a couple races. I am traveling with a couple girls that race so I plan on sleeping most of the trip. I like Quebec as I usually race well but it is always soo cold and I am sure this race will be no different…

The first day was slalom. This is not my forte. There was alot of fresh snow from the night before so there was really no place to warm up either. So essentially my first race run was like a warm up run and it showed. When I saw my coach after the first run, he just laughed and shook his head. Lets just say the second run was a wee bit better but nothing spectacular. I was hoping that all my “lucky” shirt and watch along with the heaps of irish tea would get me through a day I was already tired for.

Now in the parallel events, there are 2 qualification runs. The top 16 women race in the finals, a dual elimination format. 

So I think I qualified 5th or 6th. Not great but ok. I raced the first girl and I seemed to finally find my feet. I got past the first girl, no problem. The second was a girl that I race from Canada alot. She is definitely better in slalom that me but that usually gets me fired up. the course was getting alot rougher and I was definitely tired from the travels. I was just a fraction of a second behind her on the first run. I knew I had to give it all i had for the next. Unfortunately all i had was not enough. I won the second run but not by enough cover the gap she had on me from the first run. Coach was a bit happier but knew I should have done better.

But we were both more excited about racing the PGS (parallel giant slalom) on the second day. I went to stratton earlier in the week to try a new binding system for my board. It was the best thing i ever tried. It is definitely not ideal to try something one day before a race and expect to feel totally comfortable. Nonetheless I was still excited to race it.

I was able to get a couple warm up runs in and I felt really good. I took my first qualifying run and it was apparent that I wasn’t totally comfortable on it but I won the first run. My coach was happy but said it wasn’t close to the was I was riding the other day. I took my second qualifying run and again, i knew I could have done better but won the second run as well. I was excited about this as I have had some horrible qualifying runs which makes it harder to win the overall.

I wasn’t happy with the line that I was taking through the course. I was way too straight.(straight is not always the fastest way)  The course was getting rutted fast which makes it even more important to take a good line. The first girl that I raced, I still couldn’t seem to find where I wanted to be, but i moved on to the next round. The next girl was a younger rider that is getting good quick. So I was starting to feel a bit of pressure but I started to find where i wanted to be in the course. SO that was 2 down. The next round decided who goes to the 1/2 round or the 3/4 round. 

I pulled out of the gate and started wrong from the beginning. I was slamming into every rut which 1) hurts like hell and 2)is not very fast. So after the first run I was .1 second behind. The next run I started off better but tried to go too straight toward the bottom and well as I won that run I only won by .08. .02 shy of what I needed to go to the winners bracket.  I was frustrated as I had won the qualification round by over a second. I felt confident that I could have won this. But I didn’t ride the way I was in training the day before and that cost me.

On to the consolation round, I again raced the girl from Canada that I always seem to race. We were both frustrated at this point as we both figured we would be racing for 1 and 2. Fortunately for me, I came out on top. I ended up 3rd but it was a large disappointment for both me and my coach. 

Well back on the plane for me and to work and hopefully get a few more days on snow before the next race in canada