Graduated!

Well now I have finally graduated, I have in my hand one expensive piece of paper saying I completed x,y, and z course requirements to the satisfaction of the Dean...its pretty cool actually.

With bobsled now fully out of the picture (at least for now, I make no future predictions) I was able to focus on my running, my second run of the season I ran 3km in 12 minutes, and for anyone who knows me, that is a feat, considering I never really ran farther than 50m in the last two years of my competitive life. Of course after that I am now stuffed into my MoonBoot - least favourite clothing item. I happened to play flag football in Calgary, and one of my own team mates got a little over excited and tackled me in the endzone, leaving me limping, although I obviously finished the game thinking it was only a sprain and it would get better. Three weeks later at my physio I realize its no small sprain and quite possibly a fractured or broken Navicular (bone over the arch in the foot) and that I may have torn the tendon clear off the bone *which of course requires surgery* so now I am just waiting on my Bone Scan and possibly a CT after that to see exactly what is going on, as the pain has not lessened and the mobility hasn't improved.

I'm still enjoying the summer, tanning every day, walking my puppy, and working a bit. All in all a great summer.

I have started my after degree program, which while I like, I certainly don't love, so I am certainly not sure if that is entirely what I want to do...I have some soul searching to do that is for sure.

have a great summer and more updates will come as my bone scan results come in and so do the job interviews!!!!!

Love,

D

The Last Finals of my Undergrad

So here we are, on the homestretch, I have 2 finals of my undergrad left, and while its cool and exciting, it doesn't feel much different. I begin Grad school may 10th, before I even walk across the stage and get my degree, I am doing a 12 month compressed program, so to me, I won't feel super special until I graduate again next year, and know that I am pretty much done with university for a while.

I deleted my "Fan" page on facebook - I didn't really see the need for it any more, although I will begin competing in track by the end of this summer, I've decided that 800m will be a good race for me, its going to be insanely hard, I'm not used to running that long, but I do like the fact that there is a little "roughing" in the 800 as everyone continually jockeys for positions throughout the race. I will be keeping my blog updated on how my training is going, and if I enter into any meets.

But for now, back to studying for finals!

And yes my nose/face has finally healed woohoo!

What happened to March?

So the Olympics are long over and so is March - where did all that time go? I spent it in school. I am finishing up my undergrad and am set to walk to stage on May 28th - I am very excited at the fact that I now finally have a degree! I start my grad school on May 10th which is scary for me, fortunately its course based so it's more of the same only this time its accounting, management, finance, and law...

As for athletics I'm unsure of my next step, I want to go back to running, but I am not sure if I want to go back to sprinting - I'm thinking more about 800m I enjoy the head games as well as the physical aspect of pushing for my spot, I also know I'll have a fantastic kick in the last 200-150m. I have nose surgery on April 8th to help me with my breathing as my septum has deviated so much so that I can't get any air in my right nostril. Once I am recovered from that I plan on running, swimming, doing yoga and perhaps some biking - who knows maybe I'll do the Vancouver Internationals Triathalon like I did last year....I hated the thing while I was doing it, but after it was sooooo cool haha.

Wish me luck - as all my finals and final papers are up coming! YIKES!

End of an Incredible Games

Well now that my ladies finished on the podium, both of them yes, I have to say that I was right on with my predictions, I predicted it would be 2 canadians and an american on the podium for the women's 2-man, and I was right. I also predicted Lange, Holcomb and Rush to be on the podium for 4-man and I was right. So take that Vancouver Sun predictions!

Also wanted to note that had Pierre given up just 1 race over in Europe, and raced the Europa Cup race instead of a World Cup one, letting Serge Despres take his WC spot, we would've had 3 sleds, and Serge's team I know for fact would've done better than Pierre's so that being said, we could've had a medal in 2-man as well as 4-man, had some pilot been less selfish. This is why Pierre needs to retire, he's no longer the best, and now he's preventing younger better pilots from competing at the Games. I am not impressed.

That being said, GO CANADA GO, men's hockey tomorrow, and curling tonight. Lets bring home some more gold :)

Corrections

Well sadly my predictions for the 2-Man Bobsleigh were ousted by Beat Hefti not competing and Lyndon Rush crashing on his 2nd run (which was shocking to everyone) and since hearing that Latvian pilot Jannis M. had his appendix removed not but 10 days ago.

However my predictions for Skeleton were not bad at all

Germany did get both silver and bronze in the womens, and Mellisa who could've won, had a crappy 4th run and landed herself in 5th.

I did however call Jon winning, and Dukkurs in 2nd, so I'm rather proud of that.

So here are my final predictions for the 4-man

Gold Andre Lange Germany

Silver Lyndon Rush Canada

Bronze Jannis Minnis Latvia or Steven Holcomb USA

4th Pierre Leuders

P.S. What is going on with the negativity regarding the Games? They are here, enjoy them, get over the fact that we have homeless , every city has it, we're trying to deal with it, but lets enjoy the Games! Go Canada Go!

My Olympic Predictions

And welcome to the Games.

Sorry That I never completed my piloting blog, I ended with a nice concussion which took me out for 9 days. So my sliding days are complete for now...I will never say never.

However, now with all my team mates due to start their journeys today, I'm going to do my predictions for the sliding sports. I saw it in the paper, and well I don't really agree haha.

So

Men's 2-man bobsleigh

Gold Karl Angerer & his brakeman Germany

Silver Beat Hefti (push record) Switzerland

Bronze Lyndon Rush & Lacelles Brown Canada 1

Men's 4-man bobsleigh

Gold Steven Holcomb USA

Silver Andre Lange SUI or Thomas Florscheutz GER

Bronze (hopefully Pierre Lueders Canada) but probably Jannis Minnis Latvia

Women's 2-man bobsleigh

Gold Helen Upperton & Shelley-Ann Brown Canada

Silver Shauna Rohbock USA or Sandra Kiriasis GER

Bronze Kaillie Humphries & Heather Moyse Canada

Men's Skeleton

Gold Jon Montgomery Canada

Silver Martins Dukurs Latvia

Bronze Jeff Pain Canada or Sandro Stielicke Germany

Women's Skeleton

Gold Mellisa Hollingsworth Canada

Silver Kerstin Szymokowiak Germany

Bronze Marion Trott Germany

Luge I don't know so well, so for Men's I am saying that Sam Edney will be on the podium for Canada and for the women Alex Gough will be on the podium as well.

Lets see how right I am.

Enjoy the Games!

Day 3 & 4...what a rush

So day 3, I had 2 runs down the track, and wow, I have to say I got a little scared, we got going sooooo fast, the track comes right at you and you have to react! So needless to say my 2 runs on day 3 weren't so hot, I wasn't controlling my sled well enough, ie understeering, so my sled would go on to the corner nice, but I wasn't preventing it from going up too high, so then we would come swooping down and hit the wall on the way out. Not the fast line for sure.

However day 4 was much better, I only took one run, and fixed most of my issues, I got early control of the sled and was having much faster and safer exits, while my top speed was only 116kmph all my interval times were the fastest - I am getting better at driving!!! and my speed will come up. I am really excited, and yesterday I noticed that the track was slowing down (I'm just reacting faster is really what that all that means) Although its definitely an intense feeling. Having been a brakeman and now sitting in the front I know what hard hits feel like from the back, so I am a lot more sensitive when I drive, as I don't want to hurt the person behind me, even though when we hit, I don't feel it up front - its definitely the money spot being the pilot -way more comfortable and natural.

Today I have 2 runs still from corner 6, but saturday and sunday we all move up to Damen start (ladies start in german) which puts us in around corner 3, and our top speed will increase from around 120kmph to about 130kmph.

All in all I am definitely enjoying myself here, even if I am stressed out of my mind haha.

Day 2, 1 run each down the track

So our track walk was over an hour long, and we didn't even do the entire track! just 16-7, there is much to learn and a ton to remember...and oddly enough as soon as you are sitting in the sled and going fast, tends to leave your brain as quickly as the sled is going.

The feeling of piloting the sled is unlike anything I've ever experienced, its smooth, and fast, and you just glide over the ice at warp speeds. Corners come out of no where and you're expected to be proactive and know what to do. I'm steering with D-rings, which are little rubber circles attached to bungy cords which are attached to my runners, its extremely primitive in the set up, and yet the steering is rather sensitive, a few centimeters of a pull and that sled is up in the roof or down in the belly of the curve. Our sleds last night got up to 120kmph which is rather fast - its like not knowing how to drive and then having your first "driving lesson" happen while you are racing in a Formula 1 race. You see these corners coming and you're not really sure which D-ring to pull, and exactly how much to pull it...its a bit panicky in places but just trying to stay calm is the name of the game. It was a smooth ride from the front, but not as much from the back, although I did a few corners fairly decently 14 needs some serious work.

But onwards and upwards for today! my runs should be much much better!

Bob School Day 1 - Sled Fitting

Okay, so we are here now up in Whistler, Heather and I. So yesterday we went and saw Jill and got fitted for our sleds, its a fine balance and mix, as well Heather and I have about 3 inches in height difference and about 3 inches in arm length difference, her being taller, and me having longer arms. So sled fitting was a bit special, all the sleds that worked for me, didn't work for Heather, and we aren't going to learn on 2 different sleds, that is just silly. So we finally got a sled that works for both of us, she's a very beat up blue sled, although according to Jill "she might not look pretty, but she is one fast lady" and really thats all you want, is a fast sled, paint is well paint.

Jill told us that we would be starting from Corner 8...so a little higher up than we had originally thought, but oh well, baptism by fire right?! We are going to eventually be going from the top so we might as well start from 8.

I'll post a new post tonight when I get home from my first 2 runs down as a pilot...YIKES! wish me luck :)