Annie O'Shea

Whistler World Cup #1

2010-11-29T01:31:00.003-05:00

The first race is over, and let me tell you it was a stressful, very tough week and a half of sliding. Training wasn't going great but I was slowly getting the track down and going a little faster each day. I had more bumps and bruises than I had all together from even my first year of sliding. I'm not sure if I've ever hit the walls as hard as I did this week.

It came to race day and I was really ready, my sled was done runners shiny and my ipod playlist was ready. It was snowing like crazy and made warming up a little difficult, but it sure was beautiful. I pushed well and was excited with that, but my first run I drove too much (which I never do) and was just slower than I had wanted to be. The second run I wanted to drive a little less and well it messed me up. I ended up on my shoulder out of corner 6 and it was messy from then on. I hit more walls and was just even slower and fell back 4 spots.

Although I was very disappointed with the end result, I have to look back on the week of sliding and realized that I learned a lot in a short amount of time. I was just tired by the end and my body was really hurting.

Whistler is a beautiful area and it was nice to be back there after getting to watch the Olympics. Since we weren't home for Thanksgiving Justin and me decided to start a tradition of eating together. Although we didn't cook a turkey and we cook most nights when we stay somewhere with a kitchen we made steak in the broiler (yes learning a lot about cooking things too), my favorite rice and some spinach. It was a basic but great dinner and a really nice night.

There was a little black bear outside our room one morning. I pointed at it and just stared and stopped talking. (I'd upload a photo but I've exceeded my picasa limit and must figure this out, so next time) Although very cute I was glad I was inside and he was outside and there was a deck and about 5 feet from him to me!

We are in Calgary for this week, its not too cold but snowing some, training is tomorrow at 2. Race is Thursday at 9am mountain time!

USA 1

2010-11-10T20:27:00.003-05:00

Team trials has finished and I am back in Lake Placid for training before heading out again. Just to catch everyone up I finished trials as USA 1. I won the first 3 races and finished 3rd in the last race. It was stressful but well worth it. I broke the start record in Park City, pushed a 4.94! Talk about crazy!

I am ready to get the world cup season started, I had a great summer of training. All of my lifts improved and my sprints were faster. Despite getting bit by a dog (just on the hand), I'd say it was near perfect! I did a lot of pushing on the treadmill this summer, you can put the treadmill on manual we have a wooden set up to hold on and push for as long as we'd like. I think that helped me a lot this summer. I spent a lot of time learning how to keeps my butt down and hips low while pushing, which has really shown.

When I got on my sled for the first day of sliding everything just felt right. I didn't change anything from the end of last season. I finally felt like my sled was mine at the end of last year and I didn't want to do my normal re-padding job during the summer. Glad I didn't!

Schedule for the first half:
Whistler Nov 17th - 27th
Race #1 Nov 25th
Calgary Nov 28th - Dec 3rd
Race #2 Dec 2nd
Park City Dec 5th - 10th
Race #3 Dec 9th
Lake Placid Dec 12th -19th
Race #4 FRIDAY Dec 17th!

I'm really excited for this season!

Perfect Foods Bar

2009-05-29T16:12:00.000-04:00

Perfect Foods Bar is a sponsor of America for Gold. As an America for Gold athlete I got my first boxes of the bars a few months ago. They are a blend of peanut butter and honey. And really great!

I know its funny hearing me say that something with peanut butter in it is really great, but I decided to expand my food horizons.

They are a whole food energy bar with 18g of protein bar, all natural, gluten free and soy free with no refined sugar.

My favorite are the cranberry crunch they aren’t a complete meal replacement so for me its great to eat one before a workout when I just need a little something to eat, or during a long night at work. Carob Chip and Peanut Butter are a complete meal replacement, perfect to eat when lunch or dinner is just so horrible I only eat a bowl of cereal.

It is really great to have these bars available, it cuts back on costs for me. I used to buy a lot of different bars at the food store and felt like I had to eat two after a workout sometimes or before going into work. The Perfect Foods Bars are great because after one I am perfectly full, and I know that I ate a healthy bar.

I just saw the bars for sale in a whole foods store when I was in Texas. Its the first time I saw them sold individually, also the first time I had been to a whole foods store in a while. (we don’t have them up in Lake Placid). But if you are curious give the bars a try, great for on the go. Especially early morning flights, anything is better than eating McDonald’s anytime!!

Check them out at www.perfectfoodsbar.com

They really are great bars and I like the peanut butter and honey, so everyone who loves peanut butter would probably like them even more!

Rest of the pictures

2009-05-28T19:21:00.002-04:00

I finally finished my picture post from the second half of Europe. They are beautiful. If you would like to see them please click on http://www.annieoshea.wordpress.com I will be posting my blogs on that website first and copying them to this one. The pictures make it too difficult for this post though sorry.

Enjoy!
http://www.annieoshea.wordpress.com

Thanks Everyone

Picture Post

2009-04-28T22:06:00.001-04:00

If anyone would like to see a picture season update go check out www.annieoshea.wordpress.com I can't put that post onto blogger because the pictures make it difficult. There aren't a ton of pictures up, just some good ones from the first half of the season so far. I will be finishing the second half tomorrow!

Enjoy your night! Its getting late!

Beautiful Weather

2009-04-27T20:48:00.001-04:00

I have been enjoying the Lake Placid weather. Really the randomness of the weather, but hey I'll take it.

Saturday was beautiful, I didn't have a workout just a little rehab in sports medicine so it didn't take up much time. It was about 80 degrees in Lake Placid. Me, Caleb, Becca and Diego (all skeleton sliders) decided to go down to Caleb's parents house. There is a river right across the street from them with awesome rocks that people lay on during the summer. Its always a little warmer down there so it was probably about 90 or so.

We grabbed some snacks and hung out on the rocks just relaxing. The river was flowing like crazy because all the snow from the top of the mountains was melting. I decided to put my feet in the river to see how cold it really was, it was serously cold probably about 40 or around there.

I felt the need to cold tub my legs, so I just sat down, firmly planted on the rock so the current wouldn't take me away. Becca went to the deeper part and started walking in, I decided to join and of course I lost my balance and fell in. This always happens to me. I fell in the river when we were up in Calgary last August using it as a cold tub I lost my footing on a rock and fell in. Slow motion really quite hilarious.

Back to this past weekend though, the water was so cold but the instant you got out of the water the sun instantly warmed you up. I kept getting back in the water and getting out to lay on the rocks.

All the runoff made the river filthy. People up here are always saying the fresh water is so nice and you get out feeling squeaky clean. Well not this weekend I was covered with dirt and Becca had her magnetic bracelet on and had so much iron stuck to it! It was so awesome!

Sunday wasn't the best day it rained, so I spent the day inside just relaxing. The sun kind of wore me out the day before.

Today was beautiful as well about 80 degrees again just a little windy though. I had a lifting and sprinting workout this morning. It was much better than last week. Well easier not better, workouts are always hard!

I wanted to get the most out of the day so I went down to the beach area in town. It is actually funny, they made a beach but its not the best sand even and well its a lake so I have a hard time calling it the beach. Besides the point, anyway it was very windy so I ended up just laying in the grass. Two ducks came very close to me, I almost thought they wanted me to pet them. People must feed them, which I think is so horrible because they don't learn how to get all the food they need on there own.

Tomorrow is just a sports medicine day and make a 30min bike or something!

Seriously Sore

2009-04-23T11:11:00.001-04:00

I had a seriously hard workout yesterday. I went into the weight room still sore from Mondays workout, and Tuesdays rehab in sports med. I don’t have any injuries (knock on wood please if you are reading this, huge superstition). I am doing maintenance on my lower back because the end of the season pushing took a toll on me and I need to work on some small muscle groups.

If anyone wants to be incredibly sore and dread an exercise, do Bulgarian Deadlifts. I think they are the hardest thing I have ever done. It was killer to end the workout with Glute Ham Raises.

I had a great workout yesterday, despite the pain. I was the only one in the weight room (sometimes I don’t like that but yesterday I couldn’t have thought of anything better.) Jason is the head strength and conditioning person who runs the weight room, he writes programs and this off- season I decided to get on his program. I thought it was the best for me because of all the rehab things I am doing, he coordinates with the athletic trainers in sports medicine to see if you are having any problems and can’t do some exercises. As I was saying about yesterdays workout, Jason helped me with every lift. He watched my deadlifts, and cleans, and helped me with my glute ham raises.

Most importantly he gave me a ton of confidence. Normally I have problems when it comes to any hamstring exercise because I have had so many problems with my hamstrings. Jason assisted me on that part of the workout, and said that in about a month he believes I will be able to do them on my own.

I’m an athlete that needs to hear that your coach on the track or in the weight room believes that you can do it. Just a little bit of encouragement is all I want. So I think the summer in Lake Placid will be great for me, getting me ready going into next season and adding a little extra confidence to what I know I can do.

Sorry this post was a little bit scattered. I think I had a lot to say and probably could have put it all in one paragraph but how horrible would that have been.

Little catching up to do

2009-04-23T11:09:00.000-04:00

Well I am back up in Lake Placid, but I had a wonderful time at home. I saw some family and a few friends that were at home over the weekend. I took the week completely off from training, it was awesome!

The only down side was that it wasn’t as warm as I was hoping for. It was actually warmer in Lake Placid the entire time I was home than on Long Island. I was shocked! I brought back my summer clothes in hopes that it would stay warm in Lake Placid. So far that hasn’t been the case. It is now pretty chilly and has been raining for the past few days. This weekend is going to be beautiful though, they are saying a high of 75 for Saturday, I’m hoping to catch some rays, maybe add a little color to my face.

This past weekend we had a BBQ at Caleb’s parents house a few bobsledders came and some other skeleton athletes. It was a nice sunny day and the BBQ was the perfect thing to get out of the OTC.

I started working out on Monday and let me tell you I can’t move too well today. I did 3×10 squats not heavy but after the second set I was already sore. I had some other lifts that added to me not being able to move yesterday or today and I’m guessing tomorrow also. Yesterday I thought I was going to fall down the stairs my legs were so dead. And today I couldn’t go up or down them very well. I am hoping my workout tomorrow will be doable.

Home for Easter

2009-04-10T14:28:00.001-04:00

I am home for a few days, back on Long Island where there is no snow and the grass is green.

I had planned on coming home Saturday with a friend but plans changed and my friend and teammate Katie was wonderful enough to let me borrow her car to drive home. I had planned on coming home today but I was so anxious yesterday that after lunch I decided to pack some stuff and hit the road around 3:00. It was so nice that she let me take her car home, it felt great not having to burden anyone with trying to coordinate rides and now I can head back to Lake Placid whenever I want.

I surprised my mom last night she thought my Aunt was picking me up on Saturday. I thought it would be fun if she didn't know I was coming home. It was funny to see her face she was just shocked, stared at me and said why are you home!

I haven't been home since February so its nice to be home for a while. When I left Lake Placid it was snowing and just seeing the green grass on the drive down once I got around Albany always makes me happy. I stopped for gas and when I got I got out of the car I couldn't believe how warm it was.

Its pretty warm down here today high 50's the sun isn't out but the grass is green and I don't need a jacket just a long sleeve shirt! I am so happy to be home and excited because my older sister Kaitlin will be home tomorrow!

2009 America's Cup Champion

2009-04-06T14:35:00.000-04:00

Well I had my last race of the season Thursday and Friday. I won Thursdays race by.67 seconds. Its a large margin to win a race by so it felt good. Yesterdays race I finished second, behind my New Zealand friend and competitor Tionette.

Winning the overall America’s cup title was a great way to end the season. I won the circuit in the 2006-2007 season as well, so it was fun to win again.

The weather for these races was just horrible. It was warm and the ice was soft and slow. Never the way you want to race for anything. It is the most difficult ice to drive on. It is easy to do to much, and go really slow.

Thursday’s race went really well, I had a great first run and a decent second run. I had planned on using these last two races as training for races for next season. I think in any race you compete in you can learn something. Whether it be how to keep it together for two runs, and if you are in first how to stay in first, or if you are in second how to pull it together for a great second run. I think day one I did exactly what I had planned to do.

Friday’s race didn’t go as I had wanted. I have been having some back tightness from pushing, and when I woke up I was very uncomfortable. I don’t think my head was completely in the right place, and I wish I had fixed that before the race started. Second was a good finish though. Tionette is a tough competitor and she had a smokin’ fast first run.

I enjoy being friends with the people I compete against. I think it is good to be able to hang out, and get along away from the track.

This race was a great way to end the season.

April Showers

2009-03-30T21:53:00.000-04:00

Alright it isn’t exactly April yet but close enough, and it hasn’t stopped raining. It was a cold, muddy and wet day today. Sliding in this weather isn’t very fun. As soon as you pick your sled up and it touches your speed suit you’re soaked. (good thing our speed suits are really bathing suits, still get really cold though).

Its nice to be back sliding again. The week off was relaxing, more boring really. I had two decent runs today for not being on the track in a week and considering it melted a little this past week. When it rains a lot and gets warm the ice sometimes takes a different shape because it melts and refreezes. Track are always the most difficult after that happens you never know which way the ice is going to throw you.

I am testing a few pairs of runners (one of the most important aspects to our sleds). There are so many different types of runners and each athletes has reasons as to why they like the ones they do.

I think it is good to have this final race of the season in April. If you can teach yourself how to race tired, and after a long year and still race well I think you can learn a lot about yourself. So I’m ready to learn one last thing about how I race this season, I will tell you all about it after!

Almost Spring

2009-03-19T21:13:00.001-04:00

Today was a beautiful April day for Lake Placid standards. I woke up early since sliding was in the morning, got a few things done and headed to the track for training.

The sun was out and there were few clouds in the sky, but the wind was blowing just enough so you needed a sweatshirt and some gloves. I love being at the track when its a nice day, it makes me happy. The best time to slide is when you are happy so basically its a win win situation for me.

The track wasn’t as fast as it has been, but it is getting less bumpy which is a good thing. This time of year each time I slide I try to learn something new, or try something out down the track. Whether it be a drive in a different part of a corner or a better way to relax down the track. This is the time to do all different things, make mistakes on purpse to see if your mind is fast enough to correct them, thats what makes a skeleton slider great.

My biggest stuggle in the past was consistency, that was mainly what I worked on this season during training and races. I am still working on being consistent but don’t feel like I am struggling with it anymore. What you aim for is two runs to be within 2tenths of each other, sometimes a little more is ok and well a few hundreths is pretty awesome.

After lunch I decided to get motivated and do a short running workout. My roommate and teammate was going so I figured I would tag along. It was a simple workout 8×80meter strides on the grass in the field outside the training center. This time of year it is a good idea to start running on the grass, except that the snow is still melting and the grass is soaking wet. So after my workout the back of my legs and my back were drenched and I was a little covered with mud. Abs were the end to my workout for the day. It may not seem like much but it is only March, and sliding before working out takes a lot out of you.

I won’t start my heavy training until the end of April or the beginning of May. Team trials take place in October so the summer is very long.

In Lake Placid

2009-03-12T21:50:00.000-04:00

I realized I haven't written much lately, its been a little boring in Lake Placid. Sometimes its a good thing to have nothing to do here but it doesn't give me much to write about.

It was getting warm a few days ago. I went for a walk around Mirror Lake and down Main Street with my friend and the little girl she babysits. It was a wonderful walk, the sun wasn't out but it was relaxing. Unfortunately, that weather did not stay, it got rainy and muddy. Now its back to freezing. At the top of the track today for sliding it was about 10 degrees. Normally in the middle of winter 10 degrees isn't too bad, but after a few days with the warm weather, its hard to stand the cold again.

Other than sliding, I have just been working out. I am not back into the serious training yet, just workouts to stay in shape and not feel too lazy. I have been doing crossfit workouts. I think they are the best cross training workouts.

I am enjoying just sliding for fun right now, testing some equipment and just taking more runs down the track. I am racing the America's Cup April 3rd and 4th, the last race of the season. I wasn't going to but I decided since I am leading in overall points, why not see if I can win the whole thing. I think racing experience is one of the most important aspects of a mainly mental sport. Even though I had so many races this year I think it will be good to end the season on one also.

Thats about all for right now. I do the same thing just about everyday. Maybe something interesting will happen soon!

Check it out

2009-03-06T12:25:00.001-05:00

Hey everyone if you have a minute, go check out my BIO on the America for Gold website...

http://www.americaforgold.org/athletes/annie_oshea.php

If you haven't done so already read the website and get to know America for Gold a little more.

Just in case anyone was wondering, yes I know the pictures I have up on my website are old and I am not the little anymore, I think on Monday as long as the weather is nice I will be taking new ones. So everyone be excited! I sure am!

America for Gold

2009-03-04T09:03:00.000-05:00

I have never been happier to say that I am officially an America for Gold Athlete! I just found out on Thursday! I am so excited and I think this will be a great experience for me, to meet and talk with other people, while helping America for Gold get on the map some more and telling more people about skeleton.

I couldn't have done all of this without everyone who donated when I was raising money for my application. Thank you to all the people who help me and believe in me! This is going to make going into next season (Olympic Year) a little less stressful which is all I can really ask for!

I will be using this money for equipment and travel expenses, and getting a job this summer for the extra things. I am actually braving the cold today to go job searching, it isn't too busy in Lake Placid now so I might have to wait a little while for a job, but hopefully not.

Thank you again everyone for all of your help! It means so much to me!

Back in the U.S.A.

2009-02-10T11:15:00.000-05:00

Finally home, is really all I have to say. The flight back was good but it just always seems so long. I almost didn't want to leave though, I love being in Europe. I will just have to be excited again for next year.

It is really great to be home though. I think I will stay home for about a week or so then head back to Lake Placid and slide some more and workout. Mainly get a job since now I have to start finding a way to save up for next year.

Thats all for now, just wanted to tell everyone I was back in the US!

9th Place in Konigssee ICC Race

2009-02-09T20:57:00.000-05:00

This was the last stop for the ICC tour this season. I finished the race in 9th place. It wasn't exactly what I wanted but I am happy with how things ended.

I had the best first run I had had all week. Again in training I was having problems with bendaway the curvy straight away and kriesel. On the first run I got them both and had my best speed out of kriesel. Run two wasn't as good as I had wanted so I fell back into 9th place.
Its really easy to lose speed out of kriesel and that was what I did for the second run.

It was a good week though I learned about this track which is very important since it is on the schedule for next year as well.

It took me a while to get back into the swing of racing this year, so I am really excited that I finally feel like myself. I am racing well and I am glad to end my European half on a good note.

Days off in Konigssee

2009-02-04T07:37:00.000-05:00

We left Igls on Monday and headed for Konigssee, it was a short drive, didn't even take two hours. Its kind of hilarious though because the shortest way to get here is to drive from Austria into Germany back into Austria then finally back into Germany! Cracks me up! You see all the old border stops along the road when there wasn't the EU, I think its cool that they are still up but its almost like they are there to be used again. The drive was beautiful though just like all the others.

We unpacked and decided to hit the indoor water park for a few hours as a team. I think this is the first outing we all did together, and the lone Australian Lucy and her coach came along. It was so much fun just to get out. I wanted to go to the water park last year but no one else wanted to. I was glad to go this year, there was a huge slide that went outside the building and came back in, super fun! It was a good two hours to just let loose and hang out with everyone.

The only sad thing about the water park was that my what I thought was so wonderful water proof Timex watch turned out not to be so water proof. I noticed it was broken before we left the water park. I was really disappointed because I don't function that well without my watch, I love knowing what time it is. This is the second watch that I have had the same exact one because the last one did this as well. Not even a year ago. Although that one fell in the toilet and never dried out. Also very annoying. I'm calling Timex when I get home or at least writing an email. My hairbrush broke this trip too. Well it was actually broken before we left for Europe but I brought it with me anyway. Bad idea its been driving me insane. No one buy conair or Timex they seem to break a lot. I want to review my hairbrush when I get home as well. haha oh I have a lot to do.

We had the entire day off on Tuesday and decided to go to Salzburg, back to Austria because its only about 20min from Konigssee. It was a fun afternoon. Caleb myself and Greg (from France) did a workout early that morning and we went to Salzburg after lunch.
It is a beautiful city, there is a castle that is the only one that was never overtaken in Europe. We walked halfway up to it, there is normally a tram that goes to the top but it was out of order so you have to take the long road all the way around. It was a long walk so we didn't go all the way. I'll have to do that next year when I come back.

We just walked around, went in the little shops. There was an outdoor market, I got a pretzel because I normally love them but it was one of the worst I have ever had they put too many spices in it.
There was a beautiful church called Dommusik Salzburg, its one of the most beautiful churches I have ever seen. And I have seen a lot of churches in my travels. I lit a candle for everyone I was thinking about, and said a small prayer for the whole family. Random, the parking garge was in a mountain. It was crazy instead of having a tunnel it was a parking garge. Our car is a little scary bringing into garages though, its just under 2m tall and most garages are 2m or 2.1m and our antenna hits the roof and scrapes it the entire way, so it always sounds like the top of the car is hitting but its not.

Its always a lot of fun to get out and see things. I am so excited that this trip we haven't just sat around in the hotels. Sightseeing is so amzing and I love enjoying the atmosphere of other countries and just seeing different things. Its one of the best things we could possibly do, it makes the trip not just about slidding and you don't over think the tracks because you are having such a great time doing other things. I slide best when I'm really enjoying myself which is why I think so far this trip has been such a success!

6th place in Igls ICC Race

2009-02-02T04:14:00.000-05:00

I finished in 6th place yesterday for the 7th ICC race of the season! I am really excited. I was in third after the first run, but some of the girls had a really bad first run so I wasn't too sad at how I fell back.

It was such a good race day, the sun finally came out for the first time yesterday which was crazy that it wasn't out all week because Igls is the most beautiful stop on tour and is supposed to always have the best weather. The trees were covered in snow, and standing in the sun was by far the best place to be. The only problem was that it got really windy and all of the snow blew into the track from the trees after a few people had gone. I was 8th off and there was so much snow in the track.

No complaints though, my first run was pretty decent I made a few mistakes and found all the snow. I was really relaxed when I got to the line though which was a good thing. For the second run I was just going to have my best run all week. I pushed a 5.49 my goal was to be under the 5.50 mark which I was and that was the fastest I have ever pushed in Igls I was pretty excited.

My run was great, I might have been driving a little too much in places I didn't need to be, but Kriesel was perfect for the first time all week! I was excited. When I got to the bottom and saw my time, I was only a little disappointed because I thought it would have been faster. Mr Rettl, Martin Rettl's dad came running up in the outrun to take my sled for me and give me a big hug. He is so sweet he comes to training and our races when we are in Igls, its just like having Martin there to give you a hug and a big smile.

The day was pretty awesome, I am glad to have been on the podium for second half. I am hoping that next week in Konigssee goes well too. We are leaving today, sliding doesn't start till Wednesday so you will have to wait and see what sightseeing I do this time! Instead of medals you get a cup, I love it!

A few days off

2009-01-28T14:53:00.000-05:00

We had two days off after the Cesana races and didn’t want to waste them while in Europe. Unfortunately there weren’t too many things that close by that we could go visit. We have a limit on our mileage on the car for the month and we didn’t want to drive too far and go over.

Caleb myself, and Kimber decided to go to wine country are in Italy. We headed towards the Barolo and Barbaresco areas. We figured we could have some good wine and relax for two days and see some pretty awesome Italian cities.

It was a ton of fun; the first day we got there the weather was beautiful and sunny. It was Sunday and in Italy nothing is open on Sundays. It’s a really cool concept but really different being from the US and all. So we basically walked around lonely towns until we found a place to eat. It was random down a side road in one of the towns, but they had amazing food. There were a lot of families eating at about 2:30 or so, we think they must eat supper on Sundays because they were eating the full 4 or 5 course meals. Again another great concept, very family oriented. The three of us on the other hand had just eaten so much for the past week 3 courses for lunch and 5 for dinner we couldn’t bear to eat more than just one, didn’t even have room for dessert. It was amazing food though, that is the best part about Italy.
We went back to the hotel and just hung around for a little while, unpacked and then decided to go walk around the town we were staying in. Again a really nice town, a lot of stores and some were actually open on the Sunday night. This town was a little busier than the small wine towns. Good thing or we would have been extremely bored! We found an amazing pizza place to eat at, it only cost 4.50euro for a pizza, talk about an amazing deal. (I know it sounds like we had just eaten lunch but the night was actually getting late, we do more than eat, time flies by and I don’t know how.) We decided to get pizzas for the next day so we could have then for lunch!

The following day was a pretty gross day out. It started out just rainy and cold and slowly turned into snow. We walked around a town and checked out some of the old buildings. The problem with being tourists in the wintertime is that nothing is really open. We couldn’t see a few of the castles we wanted to but the towns themselves are worth walking through. Caleb found a wine store with really good priced bottles he wanted to buy, so Kimber and I sat there and drank amazing cappuccinos while he read the list and decided. (Another amazing part about Italy would be the to die for cappuccinos). After that we had appointments at local wineries, I’m not going to lie I was a little skeptical I was afraid to be bored. I had the best time at both wineries. The owners and wine makers sit down with you and personally pour their wine for you and talk to you about it, and listen to what you have to see about it. Its crazy the history that goes into all the wine and how many family generations have had their vineyard. On owner was telling us that he thinks this type of wine will die with his generation because the younger ones don’t care enough. I found that to be really sad, I wouldn’t mind coming to Italy and living on a vineyard, it would be like the Parent Trap. That’s a good movie. Speaking of movies if anyone wants to get the Italian wine experience through a movie go watch A Good Year. I saw that one a while and couldn’t stop thinking of it all day.

Ironically enough we went back to the same pizza place for dinner, we couldn’t help ourselves! I think we all fell asleep at 9:30, what an exhausting day, but a ton of fun and a great way to refresh our minds!

12th and 7th in Cesana ICC races 5 and 6

2009-01-24T08:43:00.000-05:00

Let me first start by saying Cesana is the track from the 2006 Olympic Games in Torino. They built the track about an hour and a half north of Torino because of the colder weather. They tend to do this a lot for the sliding sports. When we have races here we stay about 20 min past the track up the mountain in Sestriere. Its a nice town, small ski town with hotels all over and people walking in ski boots.

The first race in Cesana was Friday (yesterday) I finished 12th. I had been having problems with track all week, I wasn't understanding it and couldn't go fast or have good runs. I figured for the race I was just going to let it happen and see if I could make something click. That wasn't too much the case yesterday I had two decent runs that weren't very fast, and with some mistakes here and then that added up to big mistakes. I wasn't dissapointed at all since I have only been here once before which was last year.

The race was crazy though its still snowing, on top of the 7ft they got in late December it won't stop. I think we got over a foot of snow yesterday. This morning when I woke up it was snowing again. The track is almost completely covered, everything but the start. You don't see any snow in the track only when you load the sled and continue into corner 1.

Race day number 2 I finished 7th today. I am so excited. My first run was amazing the best I had all week. I made one major mistake I hit the wall before the first corner which is slow. So I was hoping to improve my second run. I was in 6th place after my first run. My second run was not as pretty as my first I made a lot of mistakes that just add up once you get to the lower part of the track. I fell back one spot, at least I didn't fall back more than that.

At first I was a little disappointed because I hate falling back in races, it is my goal to not do that this season. I realized that for the second time on this track I can't complain too much. I was able to put things together in the second race and I learned a lot about how to drive on this track. I am very excited that I finished 7th and am growing to like this track because if you had asked me in the beginning of the week if I like sliding here I would have said no.

If only someone would go play in the snow with me that would be perfect. I don't think anyone wants to get cold though. So I might have to go jump in the snow piles by myself since I have never seen this much snow in my entire life!

Thats all for now, have to start packing for our next stop we have a few days off so I will keep everyone updated on what we decide to do!

After that a pitt stop in Venice, Italy

2009-01-23T09:00:00.000-05:00

After leaving Cortina and heading for Cesana, we decided that we would stop for a few hours in Venice since it was only about an hour away. It was complete spur of the moment and we didn't have long time to spend there before needing to get to the hotel in Cesana.

Unfortunately the weather wasn't very nice, it started out just being really foggy I kept hoping the sun would come out but it didn't. We parked and walked across the main bridge. It is such a cool city. I thought it was so weird just being right next to the canal the whole time. If we had more time it would have been so much fun to take a boat tour, but we were cutting it close.

We walked around and stopped in some of the Vencian Glass shops. The glass is beautiful, made right there in Venice. They make amazing things, dishes, decorations, jewelry. Everything and anything really, at a decent price I was very surprised. I wanted to buy the entire place, but I thought it would be best if I didn't.

We had lunch at an Italian place, it was cute and I had the best pasta ever. Raviolis with pumpkin sauce they were amazing! The waiter was telling us about the flood they had a few weeks prior. They got about a foot of water in the building. I think its crazy that the city floods but still looks as beautiful as it does! There is graffiti all over the place which is very surprising. You would think the city would clean it up.

If anyone is every looking for a place to vacation go to Venice, but wait till it gets warm because it started raining pretty bad which was not fun. Everyone walks around with umbrellas though and I really thought I was going to get poked in the eye with one. Luckily none of us did.

Really if anyone ever wants to go bring me with you please!! Thats really all I have though, since we didn't get to spend any time there. I'm just glad I got to see Venice once in case thats the only time I ever get to go.

24hr stop in Cortina, Italy

2009-01-23T07:52:00.000-05:00

After we picked up Kimber at the Munich airport Sunday morning we headed on our way to Cortina, Italy. There really was no reason we decided to stop in Cortina. Just the fact that there is a bobsled track there and skeleton was suppoesd to race on it this year, but they didn't open the track because of financial problems.

The drive in was insane the mountains are crazy (they are pretty awesome everywhere but these were unbelievable.) Here are just a few pictures.

Realizing now that we would probably never get to slide in Cortina we thought it would be a cool place to stop. And it was the town was so old and cute. Its not a very big town but main street has a lot of shops, and some cool old buildings.
We walked around main street, for a while and checked out some of the shops. Most of them were having amazing sales, I was very surprised. The festival of ice sculptures must have just finished when we got there, because there was about 20 sculptures of animals or monsters. They were amazing. Probably about 10-15 feet tall or bigger.We were complete tourists and took pictures in from of them. Caleb me and Kimber in front of the polar bears.

The next day we drove around the town to find the bobsled track. It took a while to find, since they weren't using it this year they really didn't plow around it. We found some of the corners though, and it was crazy there was about 5 feet of snow in it. After that we drove to almost the top of a mountain just to drive and see the view of Cortina from the top. It was really awesome. I love the town, its just so beautiful.

We didn't do too much, we didn't have a lot of time. It was just a cool stop for a day off.

From Konigssee to Munich

2009-01-19T16:15:00.000-05:00

Before we left for Munich we decided to stop and do a little sightseeing. We drove up Kesltien, the mountain that Hitler's Igls Nest is on top of. During the winter you can drive all the way to the top so we didn't get to see it, but it was a beautiful drive and must have gone up another 2 or 3 thousand feet in elevation during the drive.

After the race in Konigssee (so now this was Saturday the 17th) Caleb and I headed back to Munich to spend the night before picking up Kimber at the airport the next morning. It is only supposed to be about a 2hr drive from one place to the other. About 45 min into the drive there was a decent amount of traffic just going a little slower than extremely fast.

We didn't think anything of it really. They have electronic signs that change when things are happening on the road. This sign was a triangle with cars saying STAU at the bottom. We didn't know what stau meant and from the picture I was just guessing that it meant slow moving traffic ahead, because that was all that was happening.

Well we came to a dead stop and at that point decided to look up road signs and words. Well STAU mean dead stopped traffic. Funny, if only we had looked it up sooner we might have been able to take another road. But no so we sat in traffic moving about 5 or 10 feet every so often. Then we stopped moving. In Europe when you are in traffic and aren't moving you have to shut the car off. So we sat with the car off for 2 hours! Luckily it was a warm day so we weren't freezing.

If you think about it is so smart to shut the car off, you save so much gas. I think they stop the traffic completely when there is an accident since we were on the autobahn it must be a safety issue. At least thats my opinion!

We finally made it to Munich. We were going to visit the Germany museum of science history, but by the time we got there it was closing soon and we were tired. We stopped at a nice wine bar and were planning on heading to the Hofbrauhaus but it is really crowded on Saturdays and would have been insane. So we just went to the hotel and had dinner.

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2009-01-17T16:30:00.001-05:00

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