Sorry for the delay...back at it!

It's been quite a while since I've blogged (sorry about that)- but quite a bit has happened, so I'll have to attempt to catch you up real quick.  We started World Cup tour with a race in Igls, Austria, where I won my first World Cup medal as a pilot- a bronze with brakeman Katie Eberling.  Prior to that race, I had won 3 World Cup medals as a brakeman in 3 seasons, and I raced with very good pilots as a brakeman- which shows you how difficult it can be to win a WC medal.  Katie pushed great and I was extremely excited to start of the season with a bronze medal.

Bronze for Katie and I in Igls World Cup

We then moved onto La Plagne, France, a track I never slid on as a brakeman and that most pilots had never been on as well.  Katie and I broke a start record, but after quite a troublesome week of training, I was actually happy with my 8th place result- I had my two best runs of the week on race day, and when you're a pilot- that's all you can really ask for.  You can't control the results- so you just have to do the best you can.

Katie and I at the start in La Plagne, France, where we currently hold the start record, 6.40

Onto Winterberg, Germany.   Winterberg is one of my favorite tracks.  It's quite boring- but it is the first European track I slid as a pilot, so maybe that's why I like it so much.  Anyway- after the first heat and some crazy weather- Katie and I were sitting in 6th.  Even crazier weather broke out in the second heat- and I came down after my second run and held my position.  Pilots Sandra Kirasis and Kaillie Humphries were in front of me and happened to be on the wrong side of the snow- and dropped quite low in the ranking despite being 2nd after the first run.  Their dropping moved me up to 4th place, and I ended first half ranked #5 in the world.

Katie and I at the finish dock in Winterberg

Christmas came and went- another post about that later- and now we're back in Europe.  I spent the first week in St. Moritz, Switzerland, skipping the World Cup race in Altenberg, Germany, in order to get more runs in St. Moritz- home of the 2013 World Championships- which are very important for the US team.  Having a good result at worlds means a lot more than any World Cup race- so it was important for us- Jazmine and I- to get extra runs on that track.

Now I'm back in Konigssee on World Cup again- a race this week and one more World Cup race in St. Moritz next week and then I'm back stateside!

I'll do a better job of keeping you updated now though...sorry for the delay!