Update

WOW! It's been quite a while since I last posted! I have been extremely busy this month, trying to make all the appearances possible and I don't think I've said no yet! I'm extremely exhausted- but I've had a blast. The medal is wearing down, and the appearance requests come less and less frequently these days, which just means it's time to get back to training! I have already started training for the season and for the next four years- which I'm very excited about. Still a few more appearances to make, but I'll be spending a good majority of the summer in Lake Placid, NY, at the Olympic Training Center up there, as it gives me an excellent opportunity to train and save on costs, as well as work like a mad person! I have been working as a substitute teacher here at home- which is fun, but of course as the school year nears an end- so does the work. I often get asked- "if you're an Olympic medalist, why are you substitute teaching?" It's one way to pay the bills at the end of the day- and I suppose that's what we're all trying to do- Olympic medalist or not. I'll post more about my adventures over the past month- cause they've been a lot of them and I have so much to share- but for now- just a quick update to say hi blog world!

Converse ATL

Thanks to one Jennifer Hutcheson (aka Mami2Mommy on Twitter), my boyfriend (yes the one I'm not naming and yes he was in town last week) and I attended several events hosted by Converse. First, we were invited on Friday to Atlanta to pick up a fresh pair of converse (each of us got a pair) to wear to the Converse Tip-Off party that night. Friday night, we attended the Converse Tip-Off Party, met tons of really cool people and even walked the red carpet- twice- once with Jermaine Dupri! Saturday afternoon we attended the Converse Band of Ballers, a 3-on-3 basketball tourney where the players were various vocal artists. Following the tourney, we then attended the after-party at Dallas Austin's place, where we were given another pair of fresh converse shoes! We had a fantastic weekend and Converse really allowed my boyfriend to enjoy the A! Nice showing!

Celeb status and the BF

So my medal has granted me somewhat of a celebrity status. Like I've said to my mom, it's like I'm a mini-celeb though, people who know who I am really know who I am and get very excited- but then other people have no idea who I am and have ABSOLUTELY no idea- so it's really hit or miss- which is fine- I don't have a problem with it, and I've been enjoying the opportunities I've been given because of this status. Hopefully my status has allowed me to reach other people, I've spoken to many schools and children, even some churches, but I can never be sure if I'm really having an impact- but I'm having fun in the least!

Anyway, back to the topic of this blog, so if you haven't seen it on my facebook or caught it on twitter yet, yes I am in a relationship. Posting this on facebook caused quite a stir- which I didn't think it would- just wanted to use it to profess how I feel about my boyfriend. I also got a lot of questions about him specifically, and tons of questions about us. Don't get me wrong- I don't mind the questions at all, but I do want to preserve the privacy of my boyfriend, which is why I haven't put his name or his picture anywhere. No worries- he's a very special guy and he makes me happy. :)

Changing Drivers

Since the Olympics, many people have asked me how teams are made in bobsled. In the U.S., the teams are created by the coaches. Living in a democratic society, the coaches try to create the best combinations in order to win gold and come to their decisions based on several factors, one of which is drivers input, and the decision is made by a group of coaches. For the Olympics, I was paired with Erin Pac, even though I raced in the first World Cup in Whistler and the 2009 World Championships with Shauna Rohbock. Much controversy has surfaced as a result of this, but I have no hard feelings against Shauna or the coaches for not racing with her during the Olympics (I suppose most of you may think that's easy to say now- but it was true even before we won the medal). Most of this past season I raced with Erin, and Michelle Rzepka and Shauna had great results as a team leading up to the Olympics, so it was only natural that I race with Erin for the games. Circumstances caused for their to be a switch in brakeman, part of which was my hamstring injury for the majority of the season, but even when the switch was made I had no hard feelings toward anyone for the change. Switching drivers is common in bobsled, but I had raced with Erin more than any other pilot in my 3 year career, so being put in her sled for the Olympics was more of a homecoming really. Shauna was one of the first people I hugged after winning the bronze, as you can see in the picture above, and she was great to Erin and I throughout the entire process of winning the medal. Like I've said before, I've got some pretty great teammates, even if we aren't always in the same sled.

AT&T!

I believe in giving a shout out to those who help me- and I would like to give a special shout out to Derrick from AT&T in Douglasville- Derrick- you rock! During the Olympics, my phone bill was ridiculously high! Although I welcome the phone calls and texts and thank everyone for all the support, cell phone service is not cheap and needless to say, my phone bill was outrageous from just those two weeks! AT&T was able to help out, and although they couldn't make all of it disappear, they were able to greatly help me out- which is super awesome because as I've said in previous post- I don't make money bobsledding and the money to pay for the cell phone bill was coming out of the money I need desperately for this upcoming season. I've been an AT&T customer for some time now, and now with their help, I can continue being one...so THANKS AT&T!

LASIK...or not

So I was connected with this program called LASIK For the Gold- it's a program created by a group called Eye Care 20/20 located in East Hanover, NJ, and they do free LASIK surgery for Olympic athletes. Pretty cool program, especially considering the vast majority of us would not be able to afford LASIK on our own (because most Olympic athletes do not make ANY money doing the sport they love- me included), and considering how important vision is to compete at the elite level. My driver for these Olympics, Erin Pac, had it done so I owe a lot to Dr. Silverman and his staff- a bronze medal! So I was all set to go have my LASIK done, got to East Hanover and had everything ready to go, until I had the pre-op appointment. It was during that appointment that I learned I was not a candidate for the operation because I had super-thin corneas. With my contact prescription, they said the chances of that happening are 1/100,000, which of course means I was the one. Although we were both disappointed, Dr. Silverman and staff were still awesome and even gave me a pair of glasses- good thing cause I'll have to wear them for the rest of my life! lol I still had a blast in East Hanover, so if you're ever in need of LASIK or any eye surgery (I wasn't eligible for PRK either), contact Dr. Silverman- he's good people!

Here's a link to a recounting of my visit:
http://www.dailyrecord.com/article/20100406/COMMUNITIES/100405144/1005/NEWS01/Olympic-bobsledders-say-thanks-to-E.-Hanover-eye-doc---even-though-one-can-t-get-surgery

Sliding Season is Officially....OVER!

The sliding season has officially ended- well for me at least. In Lake Placid, the track is scheduled to stay open until April 15, but with the warm weather they've been having- who knows if that will actually happen. For me though, the season ended with my final run on Friday- driving and pushing from the top! I ended on a pretty good note, which I was extremely happy about and it leaves me excited to see what the future holds. Driving is so much fun- it's great and I love it! I have a lot of potential because of my athleticism, so it will be exciting to see what will happen next.

Driving brought with it a whole new slew of stressors: finding brakeman, sleds, runners, and making sure everything was taken care of. Although it was extremely difficult and I had way more drama than I should have had, it was nice to have my own "team"- Team Meyers. Katie Turner, a former field hockey player and graduate of American University, came up from Maryland to brake for me for two weeks. Even though our race was cancelled and turned into a "scrimmage," it was great fun and Katie was a great sport about everything- hopefully she'll train hard this summer and return in the fall- here's hoping!

I learned so much this past year- from the politics that go into an Olympics to how to navigate down a track to how to make sure you have a sled. So much work to be done for the future, but for now- I'm going to let my body recover from 6 months of sliding! WOO HOO! ALL DONE! Hanging up the spikes for a minute...until October...