Swiss Army Knives:
We arrived back in Europe on New Years Eve and then headed off to train in St. Moritz Switzerland for a week. Our coach sent two drivers and 3 brakemen there to learn the track for next years World Championships. St. Moritz is home of the only natural bobsled track in the world. Which means that they create it out of snow every year from the ground up. This is also where bobsledding was supposidly invented! I absolutely love the atmoshphere that this track creates, not to mention it is just plain fun to slide there.
Operation Snow Leopard:
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| Our coach wanted to name it Operation Spider Pig (ridiculous we know). We ironically came across a spider pig poster later that day! |
After training in St. Moritz we met back up with the rest of our team in Königssee, Germany for a World Cup race. While in Germany we got some top secret information about the selection process of the sleds that will be invited to go to Russia this spring to test out the new track for the next Olympics in Sochi. It turns out it was possible to get our sleds in the selected spots if they raced well that weekend in a Europacup race back in St.Moritz. It all sounded to good to be true! So after training in Germany we drove through the night to get our qualifying training runs in Switzerland for the Europacup race. Then we headed back to Germany where our drivers raced in the World Cup race the and then drove back to Switzerland for the Europacup race all within a couple of days. I know this sounds confusing... but the adventure was a success! Elana and Emily are going to Russia to homologate the track this spring! USA is now one step closer to Olympic medals!
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| Toboggan Adventure in the Swiss Alps |
Adventures in Narnia:
I couldn't believe how much St. Moritz looked like Narnia! I decided to sneak away one day and go on a little adventure one day. It started off by taking a historic train ride through the Swiss Alps to a little town called Preda. When I arrived in Preda I rented a sled. Then I went on a sled run that was over 6 kilometers long all the way to the town of Bergun. The Preda-Bergun run in the longest sledding trail in Europe and it was awesome.
Jesus came to serve:
Most people have been wondering why I haven't been racing. To make a long story short, I'm an alternate. I'm not going to lie, almost everything about being an alternate completely stinks. I am told I simply don't weigh enough to race. But when I try to put it in perspective it doesn't seem so bad. After all it's my rookie season and I'm still on the US National Team. There are tons of bobsledders and people who would love to live one day in my shoes. So, heck, I'll take it! The reality of this whole experience is that if my sole purpose here is to win medals I will be missing the point. Oh trust me, God willing, I will be winning some medals in the future. But there is a much bigger picture and purpose in all of this. Christ came to earth not to be served but to serve, and if I'm supposed to attempt to live like Him then I cant think of a better place to be than in my current position. And while I'm attempting to serve I'll be getting better and better at bobsledding everyday so that when my opportunity comes I can seize it.
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