Why are you blogging in the middle of your Olympics?

Yes, you're probably thinking why is she blogging when she has so much to do with her Olympic competition going on? Well- it's probably because I've been up since 4am!!! After we got done racing we had some media to take care of and then had to prepare our sleds for the race today. Then we took the 30 minute trip back to the Whistler Athlete Village, grabbed a quick bite to eat, did our laundry, and then got some treatment to fix up our aches and pains to get ready to go for today. I feel asleep rather easily, but took a sleeping pill just in case, and then woke up bright eyed and bushy tailed at 4am!! I've been trying to watch movies online (Personal Best, a movie from 1982- before I was born lol), but then I ran out of time (these things are timed when you're watching for free- 72 minute limit), so now I've been twiddling my thumbs trying to fall back asleep but it's not working! So I opened my facebook account and saw all the well wishes and the messages of support- it really means a lot and I appreciate it greatly. All my family, friends, and aquantinces, and even people I don't really know- you guys are making this a wonderful experience and I thank you very much.

Also, the other reason I'm blogging is I'm trying to keep everything pretty much the same as I would for any other world cup race or even a world championship race. It's two more runs and a lot can happen, so I need to stay calm and relax a little. Erin and I can do this, we just need to be confident but still be on our A game. 0.13 from gold is not a lot of time, and Erin, Pinky, and I, plan on making it up...so here goes! 2 more runs! GO PINK! GO PAC!

Joannie Rochette

I am amazed and awed by Joannie Rochette. The Canadian figure skater tragically lost her mother the other day, days before she was set to compete in the Olympics. We were racing yesterday, so I didn't see the performance live, but I saw the replay and I was amazed. She was crying at the end of the performance, and I started tearing up to- if I wasn't so ridiculously exhausted to know up from down, I probably would have been balling my eyes out. My family is so important to me and to be able to not only compete, but compete at the highest level (she sits in second going into the next skate) is nothing short of amazing. I can't imagine what it must be like to lose your mother, let alone at the world's biggest stage and still being able to compete! God is truly looking over her and with her at these Olympics, and that makes me want to cry even more. Her mother is an angel watching her every skate. I know I should cheer for the U.S. but just this once, I hope she wins gold...so I say to Joannie Rochette- GO CANADA GO!

The Hamstring Monster

The Hamstring Monster has been stalking team USA all season long and the Olympics is no exception! Todd Hays initially was sidelined due to a hamstring injury before his career ending crash in Winterberg. Valerie Fleming spent the entire Olympic season trying to over come a hamstring injury to try and make the Olympic team but unfortunately, the hamstring obviously didn't want to go to Whistler. And of course, me, as you all know from my previous blogs, I've been dealing with a hamstring injury all season that has caused some setbacks, but I still raced and made the Olympic team and felt prime and ready to go for some fast pushes when the hamstring monster decided otherwise!

My pilot, Erin Pac, just recently was attacked by the hamstring monster. Unfortunately, she is in a great deal of pain and unsure what percentage she'll be at for race day in one day's time. At this track, the push is especially important and we need every hundredth we can to win a medal and the hamstring monster wants to make this as difficult as possible. Coming into these games, we were one of the fastest push team in the world, but a hamstring injury will most likely slow us down a bit. A slower push greatly decreases our chances of a medal, but I'm not losing hope! Erin is a trooper and I know that she'll do everything she can to push as well as possible, and we'll work with it and compete. We still have a chance, the race has yet to begun, and there's always hope, as long as you still believe and I do. I honestly do.

So hamstring monster, you may think you have won yet another round, but you didn't realize that I know just who to call in this instance...WHO YOU GONNA CALL??? GHOSTBUSTERS!!! THIS HAMSTRING MONSTER IS NOT GOING TO TAKE OUR OLYMPICS!!!

Body By Milk

In 2002, I was a SAMMY (Scholar Athlete Milk Mustache of the Year) Award winner, and as a result, I appeared in a milk mustache ad in ESPN the Magazine, Sports Illustrated, and USA Today. 8 years later, I'm at the Olympics and in honor of that accomplishment, I was invited to do a live facebook chat with Olympic Gold Medalist Gymnast Shawn Johnson. However, I missed the live facebook chat due to a press conference that ran late, so we shot a little video afterwards. Here is that video!

http://www.akamediainc.com/Client/Milk/ShawnJohnson_Elana.htm

You can also see the video on the Body By Milk facebook fan page.For all you high school seniors out there, don't forget to apply for the SAMMY awards! Applications close March 5!

Ridiculously busy day!

Days can be pretty busy as an Olympian, and today was especially one of them! I started the day off rushing to breakfast in order to make it in time to my live chat with the Washington Post, to which I was of course late- as I forgot to account for time it would actually take me to get online and get to the site. The chat went longer than expected, which is completely ok- I welcome all the questions and fans, but I had to chat and prepare for my next task, an interview with NBC. The interview was in downtown Whistler, which was great and it was a gorgeous day, but the trip takes a minute to get out there from the athlete village. Then, I met up with the students visiting the Olympics from GW and told them about a few of my experiences as an Olympian. I'm actually in the same graduate program as all of them, although I don't actually know when I'll ever finish mine! lol (hopefully soon though!). I then rushed out of there, as I had to do some damage control for some of my less than popular tweets (our tweets get a lot of followers as Olympians so you have to be careful what you say!). After I controlled some of the damage, I then had to rush to get my workout in, and then showed some GWers around the athlete village. I then rushed to shower and get some rehab on my crazy hamstring, grabbed a bite to eat, watched a bit of Shaun White's epic run, and then burnt my mouth sipping cappuccino on the way to bible study. Finally, I finished bible study and came back here to answer all my emails and do everything I didn't do during the day cause there was no time! Definitely busy day, but it's a nice problem to have. My days are going to get a lot less busy starting tomorrow- the time that I call my "drop dead zone," it's the personal time I'm taking to prepare for my races. After my races- I'll be busy as ever again, but for now, it's getting down to the wire and time to focus. So if I don't respond to anyone on facebook, twitter, or even on this blog, please don't take it personally. I thank everyone for all the support and encouragement- but now it's time to go to work! This is what I trained my whole life for, it's time to go get some hardware!

P.S. Rebekah Bradford will be competing tomorrow so check her out!

Rebekah Bradford

I've met quite a few athletes here in the XXI Winter Olympics, so occasionally I'll take the time to tell you about some of them. First- meet Rebekah Bradford! Rebekah is making her first appearance in the Olympics and is a sprint speedskater. To me- sprinting means 30m, but in speedskating, her race, the 1000m is a sprint! Rebekah is originally from Minnesota, but now trains in Salt Lake City with the rest of the U.S. Speed skating team. I met her for the first time in Chula Vista and caught up with her during Opening Ceremonies. She's an awesome person and more importantly skates for more than just herself- she is one of many of us who are competing for the God's glory in these Olympics (rock on!). Wish her good luck as she represents our country and goes for the gold on February 18! Check her out!!

IOC regulations and blogging

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has strict regulations on blogs that occur during the games for all athletes. We are allowed to blog, but it must be written in the first person. We are allowed to post pictures, but they must be of people, not of events. We're not allowed to post any video from any areas that you need accreditation to access- aka- all the areas that I'm in. Finally, you can't go sponsor crazy on your blogs either. That being said, I'll post all my great Olympic video after the games is over :)

Opening Ceremonies

Opening ceremonies was amazing! Words can't describe what it felt like hearing the entire US team chant "USA, USA" in the waiting areas- it was amazing! The day was a long one, it started out with breakfast and then I rushed over to the P&G House, where they did my make-up and made me look fabulous all for free!!! Then I rushed back to the Vancouver Olympic Village for lunch and to quickly get dressed in my white pants before heading out the door to meet Vice President Joe Biden and his family. It was amazing to meet him, and his speech almost made me cry. After meeting VP Biden, the we waited...

And waited, and waited, and waited...

During the wait, people were trading pins, and because I didn't know about this big pin trading tradition, I didn't have my pins! However, our physio, Jason Ross, had a pin and asked me to trade it for him- for something really good. I went on a mission- and traded it with the one athlete from Ghana- the Snow Leopard- which I consider a big achievement for the night. While I didn't have pins to trade- fellow brakeman Emily Azevedo and I spent a good majority of the evening collecting as many US signatures as we possibly could on flags and other items- which allowed us to meet a lot of people from all the U.S. sports- so many great people and great stories!

Finally, we lined up to walk into the stadium. We were in line for what seemed like forever! And even though our Ralph Lauren gear looked great (the white pants looked much better than expected), we were SOOO HOT!!! Those wool sweaters were furnaces! We were burning up! They offered us water, but no one wanted to drink cause we didn't want to go to the bathroom!

Finally, they started calling the country names and we were almost ready to roll out. Being the United States, we were one of the last countries to come out, shortly to be followed by host nation Canada. We all tried to strategize where to stand to get tv time- everyone like little kids so excited! The big winners were the ones who stood by the snowboarders and Shaun White, definitely should have been more strategic- but I'm super glad I walked in with my pilot Erin Pac, I was so happy to share that moment with her after all we've been through.

Walking through that stadium was nothing short of amazing. Walking up the ramp all you could see was thousands of people and bright lights- I imagine that's what entering the gates of heaven looks like (if it were on an earthly scale)- it was beautiful. We were so excited and I never wanted that walk to end- but it did, but luckily the show was amazing too.

Another Busy Day!

Day 2 here in Vancouver is complete! We arrived yesterday and went through team processing where we received 3 huge bags worth of items- including our opening and closing ceremonies gear, which was altered on the spot for us. Then we were told we had a box to ship items home- and that's when the real decisions came into play. I was up until 1:00am trying to decide which items to keep with me and which to send home- trying on clothes and thinking about what items I'd like to trade with other people for their swag, and also which items I want to give as presents and to whom. It was a intense night!

Then- because the time difference is 3 hours, I woke up at 3:40am to be a live guest on the Bert Show on Q100 in Atlanta. It's a show that I personally listen to in the morning and have been trying to get on for a while now to tell them about bobsled- so I was stoked that I finally got on. I was so tired I don't think I realized that I accomplished a life goal by being on the Bert Show, I did the interview and fell right back asleep- very tired. I have a follow up interview with the Bert Show on Monday...should be loads of fun!

When I finally woke up for the day it was a mad scramble to finish packing and ship my box off. Then we worked out and had lunch with children from Vancouver College. Always nice to hear children chant "USA, USA!" when you walk into a room! Such a great experience!

Finally, we had a press conference and then I rushed to a hotel in Vancouver where I was supposed to meet Shawn Johnson for a live facebook chat on behalf of Got Milk? Well, the press conference took longer than expected and the car they sent couldn't get to the building I was in because of all the extra security. Long story short, I missed the chat but shot some footage promoting SAMMY (Scholar-Athlete Milk Mustache of the Year Award) and chatting with Shawn Johnson that will hopefully be used soon. Such a cool experience and I was honored to be involved. (Shawn Johnson had just released Project SHINE and her Milk Mustache Ad). I felt bad that I was late, but was happy the people there were great and excited.

After that busy day, I finally checked into the athlete Olympic village in Vancouver which is amazing! I've been able to get so much video for my Olympic movie- it's been great! I've already met a curler on the women's team, an aerialist, and a hockey player on the women's team (all US athletes). The village is awesome- but more importantly- everyone I've met has been amazing! Everyone- all the volunteers who are so willing to do anything for you- even move all your luggage into your room- have been great! The support from all my family, friends, peers, and fellow Americans across the world has almost led me to tears. Tomorrow's opening ceremonies and I don't know if I'll keep it together- but there's a good chance I will because I'm not sure how to wipe the smile off my face.

Thanks everyone for all that you do!!! I appreciate it!

Vancouver Bound!

I have heard that being an athlete at the Olympics is one of the best experiences of your life. We are on the way to the airport right now to head to Vancouver from Park City, Utah- and yes it is 4:30am. The reviews from our men's team is that everything is amazing. I'm eager to get there and begin this new adventure. I don't know what's going to happen or how I'm going to feel, but I'm excited right now. This is a huge moment for me and all those who have supported me all these years so- here we go! Onto Vancouver!!!

Media attention

As a result of being named to the 2010 Olympic team, I've been getting quite a few media requests. It also doesn't hurt that I'm the only winter Olympian from Georgia, coupled with my ties to softball and Washington DC, and my strong christian faith. It's been pretty hectic keeping up with everything and conducting all the interviews and I'm sure I have driven some of the media insane by my hectic schedule and trying to find times to fit them into it. I am very happy to do all the media- I enjoy it and feel honored that people want to interview me. We have our last major team press conference when we arrive in Vancouver on Thursday at 2:30pm, so we'll see what happens with the media after that point- not sure how it works- it's all new to me! Like I said, I love the media attention, just feel bad that I'm not as prompt as I'd like to be with getting the interviews done and getting back to the media. So if there's any media reading this- I apologize!!! In the meantime, here's two recent articles to enjoy:

http://www.ajc.com/sports/georgia-bobsledder-slides-into-294646.html

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/08/AR2010020803497.html?hpid=moreheadlines

Park City!

This week the entire U.S. Olympic Bobsled and Skeleton teams are in Park City, Utah, for a little pre-Olympic training. This is our last opportunity to test anything with our sleds and runners (the blades basically- but they're rounded- not sharp) before we head up to Whistler for the Olympics- THE SHOW!!! Park City so far has been a giant blur- it's been go-go-go since the minute we got here! Today was a little more relaxed- I actually have a little time to blog! I didn't have a workout today and Team Pac didn't slide- so it was nice to have a little time off. We got our Olympic gear from Under Armour today, which looks amazing- although the jackets create some interesting problems- they're cool- but not at all practical for our sport- so all of us are quite confused what we're going to warm up in during the games and what we'll actually wear for the various parts of our sports- guess we'll have to figure it out!

Today I actually had the great opportunity to hang out with my friend, who is a spare on the British Olympic team. Not only is he a great guy, but it's also nice to see a spare with such a positive attitude. Team Pac has been blessed this season to have a wonderful spare- Jamie Greubel- who has helped our team so much and also helped me keep my sanity. Unfortunately, Jamie won't be with us in the games, but she will be there in spirit. Jamie is currently in Lake Placid, New York, with my other good friend Jazmine Fenlator driving and honing their skills to make the 2014 Games in Sochi- I'm excited to see them again and I wish they could both be in Vancouver.

My friend also reminds me about the international nature of our sport. I have met many amazing people from all over the world- one of which is now one person I consider one of my best friends- Shelley-Ann Brown- who will race with Helen Upperton in the games. I'm so happy to be sharing my Olympics with her- I couldn't imagine anyone more amazing than her. She's awesome and I've never met anyone who can find the good in everyone- and she truly lives her life this way. I'm so happy to have met her- and truly blessed as well.

Well- tomorrow is another busy day so that's all for now!

Staying Busy!

It's been such a crazy year my blog has suffered greatly! I've barely blogged all season long- but I'm going to try to be better during the games. Every day now there's something else, that ends up taking up wayyy more time than it should. I'm definitely not complaining, I love my life right now, but I am definitely running out of hours every day and just piling things on the to-do list. I had no idea I'd be this busy, answering emails, interviews, and still doing all the things that will allow me to peak at the games- it can get quite busy! We've been in Chula Vista this past week for some R&R but I feel like it's been go-go-go the entire week! Now we're headed to Park City and my schedule's already booked and I haven't even left yet! It's crazy hectic- but I'm going to live in the moment and enjoy it all! I'm going to the show!!!