7th and 8th

Megan and I had a great time in Winterberg!  We placed 7th and 8th, and had the 5th and 4th fastest pushes  for both races.  Although she hurt her quad, Megan pushed awesomely, and I can't wait to see what's next for her as she continues her development.  Megan had many firsts, including the first time to Germany, and she had the opportunity to eat many new foods.  I felt like a big sister, showing my little sister the ropes.  She handled everything- all the challenges we faced- like a pro and I'm so proud of her.

Janis Kipurs was my coach, with the help of the Latvian team and their coaches.  Thanks to Janis, we made a connection with the Latvian team and was able to share video with them.  I learned so much on this trip about bobsled and driving and I owe a lot of it to the Latvian team and to Janis.

As for the races, from my perspective, the first race was a good race, the second race- horrible.  People have told me that I am too hard on myself, but I expected to be in the top 6 for the second day, and I had the ability to be there.  I drove poorly, which was more upsetting than where I actually finished.  If I drove well and still finished 8th- then I got beat, but I drove poorly and finished 8th- and beat myself.  Still reeling to return to Winterberg to fix my mistakes, but that will have to wait til next season.

As for now, I'm back in Lake Placid getting ready for the World Cup race here this week.  Thanks to Megan, I was able to qualify for World Cup and will now race as USA3.  I'm completely excited to be racing World Cup in just my first season, as it's quite an honor.  I'm nervous as well, my driving ability will really be tested now, but also excited.  I have no idea what to expect, except as always- to have some fun...so here we go- Lake Placid!

Winterberg!

I'm sitting next to a warm fire here in Winterberg blogging and trying to fight the strong urge to fall asleep. My brakeman, Megan Hill, my coach, Janis Kippurs, and I arrived to Frankfurt, Germany this morning at 7:30am, got our rental truck (which is a standard, meaning only Janis can drive lol), and made the 130km drive to Winterberg.  After a delicious lunch, Megan and I opted to take a nap- which was glorious, but left me wanting more.  We decided to get the blood moving a bit and did a warm-up, and then headed down to dinner, and now I'm sitting here trying to keep my eyes from closing as I don't want to be up at 4am!

We start sliding on Monday, we get 6 runs and then two races- not a lot of time to learn a new track in a new sled.  We are borrowing a sled from the Latvian team, something I am very thankful for as it's nice to be able to build a partnership between nations.  We pick up the sled tomorrow (Sunday) and set it up and get it ready to go for training on Monday.  I'm pretty nervous, but I have watched the point of view video for Winterberg a million times and have spoken to a few different drivers about lines.  Tomorrow we'll also go to the women's luge race and watch some sleds, as well as walk the track, to get an idea about what is about to happen.

I'm super excited to be sliding on a European track in my first year of driving, but the competition is stiff here.  Of course, competing against my fellow Americans is always stiff competition, but here- you have a bad run, it's over.   There's not many new drivers in this race, most of the drivers I will be competing against have been to Winterberg many times, where I have been 3 times as a brakeman, and never as a driver.  I'm excited none the less, but I have no idea what to realistically expect for a result.  I know my coach, Janis with a Soviet bloc background, always expects the win, but realistically, the first goal is to get down and qualify for the Lake Placid World Cup.  Of course I want to win, what athlete doesn't, but I am realistic and know it's a lot easier said than done.  That being said though- I'm up for the challenge.

So here we go...Winterberg...