pre nationals...

To my great enjoyment, the National Championships this year were held in a place I had never been! This to me is always one of the highlights of racing. I have discovered more of Canada from traveling to ski races, than any other way. This new place was the great white north... so I thought. As far north as it is, there are no igloos, or great, vast frozen oceans. it is merrily a place which is a little colder than where I am from, and the sun light is incredible! The huge mountains are far from intimidating, they are not steep as I am used to in whistler, they don't block the view, the just enhance it. The majestic slopes are deceivingly long and large, and the peaks, in the region, are the highest in the country. Yet the huge Panoramas are appreciated with the sun not setting until 8:30 to 9:00. Enough said, I was simply blown away!

I will leave the suspense for photos to come.

until than.

C

CHEESE!

With the Olympic Hangover easing now (i hate using that word because it sounds way too cliché and overused), maybe i'll just make a metaphor to describe how people might feel after Olympic Games.Living through the Games as a spectator is incredible, you live EVERY moment with the athletes, every single high and low impacts you in some way. for me it was even before the games had started. Nodar Kumaritashvili, the Georgian Luger who tragically lost his life at the whistler sliding center on the day of the opening ceremonies was the first moment for me. I never met him, never even saw the accident (my choice) but i felt as though someone i knew had passed. it was the scariest thing to hear about it struck me way to close to home. my thoughts are still with him. Following this extremely sad moment the opening ceremonies were the complete opposite, even being on the same day it was a complete celebration of canada. it made me feel incredibly canadian and extremely joyous. this roller coaster ride of emotions kept going through out the whole games, knowing that some athletes missed the podium, or the gold medal by fractions of seconds and points was tough, and being an athlete i know what that feels like. that moment plays its self over and over in you head for days, nights, even months. you keep telling yourself that if you had that moment back you knew exactly what you had done wrong and that you'd fix it. but thus is the beauty of sport. it is that singular instant in time, that fraction of a second, which makes athletes, athletes. the ability to act without thought, but with full intention, to put everything you have learned and practiced to one goal. Gold.

for every near chance, we, as a country managed to put gold on the podium. this blew my mind. i will allude to my previous post and say that after the rocky start, we proved that we could own the Podium. 14 Golds! incredible. toping this incredible medal haul, on the last day was the mens gold medal performance where as with Bilodeau (the PERFECT HERO), someone, somewhere, wrote the golden moment for Canadian hockey. Canada's Golden Boy, scored the golden goal. Sidney Crosby is one of those athletes. where, when the pressure mounts (overtime, after blowing a to goal lead) they find a way to do what has seemed impossible for so long. score on the best goalie in the tournament!

following this incredibly emotional 16 days (both up and down) came March 1st. and this was as if your heart got broken by the love of your life. it was a low beyond lows. the village was empty, the busses were gone, the police officers at every corner were gone, and the driving restrictions were gone. i almost wanted all the hassle to come back. it was as if any second i'd wake up and everything was back to normal (Olympic busy), but no. it was over. Olympic Hangover? i think in whistler thats just from all the partying. olympic withdrawal is different, you don't feel sick, noxious, or dizzy. you feel as though you were left on the side of the road in the middle of no where with your heart broken.

but as with everybody else. i am just fine! here are a few pictures to keep motivated for four years from now!

the title is cheese, for no related reason other than i had delicious cheese this morning which my mother sent back with me from Ottawa. it was very good!

enjoy the pictures!

C

well, i am back!

It seems that I always try and write short posts so that I don't bore people with novels. But that is too hard when I only put a post every month or so. So, my plan: frequent shorter posts! Thats a promise!

This past month and a half has been a whirlwind adventure of Olympic proportion! Thats right, I said it, the Big 'O' came to town! To keep This post short, I will leave some things out to tell in later posts! First off, to all the Own the Podium critics; how about that medal count? Sure we weren't first overall, but a nation has never in OLYMPIC HISTORY had its anthem played 14 times at a games... Since EVER! Secondly, in the overall count, we were 3rd, two spots below where we wanted to be. But the fact remains thats the goal of every Country, to win! We DID top our best ever medal haul by 2! Now how is that grounds for complaint.

I do have to say, as an athlete who is not yet at that level but is striving to be, the funding for our type of athlete is still dismal. And if the Country ever wants to literally Own the Podium in medals and deepening of athlete pools, we need much more money to be able to perform at the level.

Now my ranting put aside, for me, these games represented exactly what I am striving for. After all the goal of skiing to compete, and perform is to put more Canadians on the Podium!

So to me, these were the most inspirational, moving, and CANADIAN games i have ever witnessed! I was one proud kid during this time. Walking through the Whistler Village and taking part in spontaneous rounds of O'Canada, and different cheers. A truly Canadian, party!

The whirlwind adventure is now partially over, and it is now time to reflect and put that inspiration into my training and racing, though I have already started.

another short one to come soon, with some pictures!

Cheers!

C

ANDY SHIELDS GOES TO EUROPE!

Here is a terrific Article about a great friend of mine and someone with whom I learned to ski when I was little. We come from the same original club Waterloo Jackrabbit club, and he is one to watch in the years to come. Lucky for me I still have 2 years before he is my competitor! Good luck in Europe Andy!

C

(click on the post title for the link)

1 or 2 posts? that is the question... i opt for one!

Today, I am sitting at home for my first day back at my moms house since I left last June for Whistler. I love it here! There is nothing that can beat meals cooked for you! This epic post sums up these last couple of weeks for me, and once again its full of first time experiences!

Since moving to whistler I have become used to being the learner and always going around with an open mind. The experiences that I have come across have been life changing, and enlightening. And they remind me that I still have a lot to learn.

After the Olympic trials in Sovereign Lake and Canmore, I headed home for a week back in Whistler. This was the first of the 'firsts'. Christmas alone. A hard one to stomach, so as i've learned this year when things get tough, I have to just put my head down and focus on what I have to do. This way I get what I need done. What did I need? two things; money, and a good recovery and prep period before the biggest focus of my season other than Nationals: U23 World Championship Trials. I had at best an extremely slim chance to be selected for the world champs, so I thought I'd have just give it my best shot and see what I could learn from the races.

That was my focus of the week, shortly put, I worked everyday from the 23rd to the 27th. Trained every morning at Lost Lake (a 10min walk from work). Treated myself to a beautiful Christmas morning ski up on the upper Fairway and Blacks Loop! Than when that week was done I hoped on a plan for Quebec City!

After all the terrorist scares I was a little apprehensive about flying, not so much about the risk. But the hassle of the security measures. I ended up flying out with a friend of mine, Kajsa (also racing in the up coming races) and let me tell you, it went without a hitch! my life long never-beep-through-the-metal-detector-luck just keeps rolling! the flights were pleasant, the company was great, and we were greeted on the other side by a VERY fantastic family (Kajsa's cousins).

RACE TIME!

At U23 Trials, there are 3 races, and the winner of each is selected than the next most consistent athlete are picked to complete the team of or five if the room is available. The first race was a 30km Pursuit, I was registered, but opted out of it to save my legs for the sprint the next day. As a sprinter, I thought I'd give it my best shot in that event. This proved to be a good decision! So far this year I've steadily moved up in my sprint races, from 96th in Soveriegn, to 55th and 49th in Canmore, and than 17th in Val Cartier, QC! All of a sudden I am right in the mix! This race felt good, but I really surprised myself with my qualification! I was 18th after the time trial! BOOM! It shocked me, but as I took it in, I knew I could do better! So I went into my quarter final with one goal, beat as many people as I could and try and move up! It was a very fast heat and I let it get a little close for comfort at the finish line, we were 3 lunging to the finish for 3rd spot in our heat. I still don't even know who took it, but with the results up now, I finished 4th in the heat, and moved one spot up in the overall results! I had accomplished my goal! My first ever Senior mens heats, and a very solid performance! I am still pumped! I ended up 9th U23 in the country and so think that there is still a LOT to come from me this year. As it turns out now, I think I had a better crack at being selected than I had thought, but its still a tough race, and next year will be that much better!

The 3rd and last race of the trials was a 15km classic technique individual start. This was going to be the first hard distance race of the year for me! I had decided to not try and hold back, but to go for it from the start! As a sprinter I have always had trouble with these middle distance events, as I find its too fast for too long, I much rather a good old fashioned long distance race.

The morning of the race I felt good, and motivated! The race began fast, I pushed from the beginning, and might have paid for that a bit in the second of 3 laps of 5km. The course was extremely hard, big climbs, soft conditions, and fast technical downhills. At the end of the race I clocked in my best distance race in a year! So I am very motivated to keep going and start focusing on the next couple of races!

That was one of the longer posts I have ever written, Pictures will be coming!

Cheers for now!

C