Well Hello Hello!
I am out here in Park City enjoying my last few days of training. This track has been fun to learn . It is completely different than Lake Placid.
I also went up to Calgary to train on that track for a week. I kinda have this thing with that track. I sort of want to punch it in the face, and I guess it has a mutual feeling towards me as you can see by the pictures below.
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| After my best run of the week on the track. What a reward huh!? |
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| Needless to say, my vision was a little obstructed by the bottom of the track |
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| You may be thinking.. "Kristina..that red spray paint is just so cool..." It's not spray paint... |
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| My nose was a little swollen.. I looked Hot! |
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| After the swelling started to go down, the black eyes started to appear |
Don't worry. I did not hurt myself too bad. Just hit my nose on the ice in a 360 degree turn in Calgary. There is a lot of pressure on that turn so it mushed my face 3 times and my nose just decided to bleed... a lot... ha This actually happened 2x while I was there. After sliding there, I realized it may be time for a helmet upgrade. Since I have to tape my face shield on it's a little too close to my face. But the helmet only cost me $80 vs. the NO JOKE $600 UVEX helmet that is about to be mandatory in Skeleton.
WHY does the helmet cost $600.. Is it gold plated?...NO...it is diamond encrusted?...NO... is it made out of the world's finest chocolate?...NO... I actually have NO IDEA why they charge $600 for it. It's probably why EVERYTHING IN THIS SPORT IS SOOOOOO EXPENSIVE... it just is...There aren't too many manufacturers of Skeleton helmets or equipment out there. I DO know that that the UVEX helmet won't mush my face. So that is a bonus. I am now on a mission to raise money for my FACE haha. I want to be able to buy a UVEX for next season, but it will take a lot of saving up. Let me know if you would like to join me in my efforts to protect my face and head and I can set up a fund specifically for my helmet.
On a different note. My next competition is March 3rd and 4th. It's USA Nationals up in Lake Placid. I haven't slid Placid since December, but sometimes that's better because you start over thinking a track instead of just sliding. I will be flying up there on Feb 27th. We start Official training Feb 29 and we will have 6 runs down the track before we race. I have been informed if I do well at Nationals that I will be put in an International race at the end of March in Lake Placid... I am SUPER pumped about this and it is a great opportunity. I just need to hold it together during Nationals and I will get to stay an extra month to train and race, If I don't finish how I would like I will be done with my season on March 5th, and I get back to the grind of training HARD and getting ready for next team trials. Either way I am blessed to compete and excited to try my hardest. Thank you for all the support, It keeps me going everyday!
