Race day 2...Day 5....much better.....

So, the 2nd race went a lot better.
The first run was really good but of course, there is always room for improvement...I felt I coulda been at least 1 sec faster cause the conditions were good and the ice was nice, minus a coupla pilot errors and I woulda had a smashing time.
The second race, of course, the ice was different and slower, so now I skidded all through turns 1 to 4, then things went better but in this sport....too late. I didn't stick around to see the official results but I know I finished better than the day before.
Thanks to Brady Canfield again.....I asked him for 5 minutes of his time the night before and he gave me at least an hour...straightening out runners, changing runners, lubing bolts, re-balancing myself on the sled cause it wasn't quite right, and along side his wife Felicia, who also slides and is very good, I learned a lot that night and knew my first run was going to be good.
The long and short of it is, all the races I am doing do not account for anything in way of making it to the Big Show, besides fulfilling the requirement of having raced on 3 different tracks and since I did lake Placid last season, this was a practice race for me. Park City, next week, and Calgary the week after, will count as my other different tracks so that requirement will be fulfilled. The placement, times, etc, don't mean anything really....it all comes down to Koenigssee Germany in January, the Challenge Cup...one race, where you make or break it. Nonetheless, I take it to heart and want to do well everywhere.
This week wasn't the best, and was quite frustrating at times, but I learned a lot from a variety of people.
I met so many people and athletes which is truly the spirit of sport. You would be amazed at some stories I hear about self funded athletes....working 6, that's right, 6 jobs, and having no time to train, paying everything on credit cards and then working your butt off in the summer to pay them off....it is truly amazing the drive that these athletes have...from Poland to Turkey to Greece to Czech to Slovakia to Iraq...it would be nice to see everyones dream come true but unfortunately, some of us will be disappointed BUT, no one will ever be able to take away the experience...that's why it's called "LIVING THE DREAM".
Even though the small nations are competing against each other, we got along fine and talked about our runs together....hey, if you're better than me, you're better than me......straight up!!
The Canadians were great to me, they fed me information, the athletes helped me out with some turns, and they helped me with me sled.
The Americans were also very helpful....I pulled Brian Macdonald from the hallway to ask a question and he gave me his time on the spot. Chris Hedquist told me how to steer 14 and he was bang on.
That is truly the comraderie of sport, especially Olympic sport.
Check out some of the pics that will follow. That's Brady getting me ready for my run.