Big Cottonwood Canyon

Heres how my morning went. Im supposed to meet up with the team to ride up Big Cottonwood for an hour. This is my first time climbing it in about 2 years and i'm super sore from dryland and weights yesterday. Can't find the team. Decide to climb it by myself. Feeling intimidated but also like a badass, I start the climb. 
2 min in- I wonder why I woke up, why I decided to do this myself and why I didn't turn around already. 
30 min- cant breath, stop to ponder life, after 5 min of dealing with inner turmoil I continue. 
1 hour- I stop again at about halfway up. try to convince myself I done good for my first solo canyon climb and feeling defeated, I turn back only to pass my teammates on the way down. *sigh*. 
Im gonna make cinnamon buns now...
This is a typical practice for me.


What would this post be without a picture of one of my cakes? This was for Mikeys 21'st birthday on wednesday :) Its chocolate cake with raspberry filling. 

 

Friends

On my last camping trip I met a bunch of really cool people. Most of them were international students so they were only here for a short time but they are good friends of mine now. Ami went back to Japan last week, my German buddies have left, and on saturday Audrey who the coolest (and only) actual French person i've even known is leaving too :( I'll miss all the wednesdays we all spent at O'shucks. Hopefully our plan to eventually all met up again in Japan will work out. My pen pal Niamh in Ireland is moving to Japan to teach english so I now have a nice group of people to visit with there! Luckily not everyone left, a few of them are staying at least until graduation. :)

Good Times!

 

I don't think i've posted about Boston yet. I went to help Karen with her Culture X performance at Brandeis. It was the most amazing show ever!!

















On stage after the show.

















Here is my 2nd birthday cake, red velvet cheesecake from cheesecake factory! Thanks TK for both of the cakes! And I thought I wouldn't get cake on my birthday. haha.










Its Mikeys birthday again next week and that means another cake! Yaaaay! I cannot yet reveal the details of this cake however. Top secret.
I also want to add that I made the coolest cake for Mrs Thornocks Birthday! It was a white cake with whipped cream frosting and fresh fruit.



Summery of the rest of my life: Im moved into my new place with Jun and Taylor and training is hard. Im back up to my 3000 cal/day diet and it involves a lot of brownies.

PS sorry for the awkward gaps in between paragraphs...blogger changed and I can't figure out how to make it look normal...

San Rafael Reef

I went backpacking in (see title) last weekend for a "class". It was a class because I got 2 credits for going haha. It was super fun, I love camping in southern Utah, every time I go I get a better appreciation for the desert environment. There's nothing quite like sipping on sandy coffee while watching the sun rise over the canyons :) Thank my grandma for emailing me twice to remind me to make this post since I keep forgetting lol! Here are the pics. Also, the person who took these had a really nice camera and the glowing speedskater is a light exposure trick where we set the camera to take a picture for 30 seconds and someone traced me with their headlamp, turned out really cool!

Kizoa slideshow: San Rafael Reef - Slideshow

I went out with some friends to this bar downtown that has an awesome sushi and beer special every wednesday. We will probably be going every wednesday. lol! We took a lot of pictures, but here are some of them.

Kizoa slideshow: Beer + Sushi Night - Slideshow

American Cup Final

Just finished racing at American Cup Final here in Salt Lake, I raced 2 500's and 2 1000's. This was my first official meet as a long tracker and first official meet since my fall about a year and a half ago. Won't be able to walk without a limp they said. Won't be able to skate again they said. Well I came pretty friggin close to my personal bests in all my races this weekend. Im glad I was able to prove to myself Im still getting better and faster because for a while I didn't think it would happen. I still can't feel my foot or move my toes but it doesn't matter, I can still go as fast as I used to!
Thank you to everyone for all the kind words and for supporting me through my recovery, i'm very happy about this and I will do work this summer and come back next season as a force!

Heres how close I was to my old PB's:

PB's.........................................................Am Cup Final races:

PB 500m = 43.77(in 2008) ...................... 1st 500m =44.72 2nd 500m = 44.07

PB 1000m = 1:26.35 (in 2009) ............... 1st 1000=1:29.94 2nd 1000m = 1:28.27


Some pics Jerry Search took from this weekend:

New Years

Spent New Years in Rochester with my best friends at Tilt, super fun!

Im back on the internet!

My hard drive died right after thanksgiving so I wasnt able to post about it. I lost all my documents and pictures but luckily most of the pics were on facebook. I went to Norcal with Gabi and Chris ( my teammates) to Gabis moms house. It was super fun, heres a list of things I experienced for the first time on this trip:

I saw for the first time:

The Pacific
Palm trees
Almond trees
orange trees
lemon trees
starfish
surfers
kelp
sea lions
a wharf
Huge redwood trees
a miniature horse

Places I went to for the first time:

Salt Flats
Wendover
Reno
California

Places within california:

Paradise- where gabis mom lives
San Jose- to see the Sharks of course
San Francisco- is awesome
Santa Cruz- sweet beach town where gabis grandma lives

Pretty exciting stuff. We went with gabis sister to san fran and we stopped at Urban Outfitters to get matching mustache sunglasses which we all wore for the rest of the trip thus enhancing every picture we took....lol. We met up with Matt and his sister in the city and they showed us all around, then we crashed his family reunion dinner.

Pics:









Now for Christmas- I flew to Iowa City to my brothers house where I still am right now. I got a bunch of sweet stuff including CUSTOM OAKLEYS for skating :) My brother and his girlfriend got me a couple Rugrats shirts and a orange iguana hoodie from that old Nickelodeon show called legends of the hidden temple.

I got another mustache for Christmas haha!


This is Cooper, hes my nephew.


For new years ill be going to boston with Karen and hopefully ill be able to see some friends and my aunt Jane while im there.

Spring Semester Classes

I just signed up for spring classes and after 3 YEARS im FINALLY taking classes for my major...Unfortunately I had no choice but to take 2 morning classes twice a week. I figured its better to get them out of the way now and miss morning practice while im still not competitive.

Here's my schedule in all its glory:

BIO: Global Environmental Issues: T, H 910-1030am
ENVST: Intro Env + Sustainability: T, H 1045am-1215
ENVST: Mandatory environmental major field trip to who knows where for 2 days in April.
HIST: American Civilization (online) The last of my stupid pointless gen ed requirements!!
Zumba: T, H 2-250 to make up for my missed morning practices... (yeah I get 2 credits for that lol)

(ENVST=environmental studies)

Yay interesting classes!

My Preciouses!

I should show everyone some pics of my "lazy fat-ass nephew" Cooper. Hes my brothers adopted bearded dragon son. You can hardly tell though, looks just like him!

How cute!



Sitting on his salad bowl...



So noble!



And heres my kitty Maya on Halloween with her pumpkin!

Alright fine...

Heres a new post! Id like to say i've been too busy to post but in reality i've just been lazy. So whats been happening with me you ask?


I RACED for the first time in over a year thats what! After 2 (well, 3) false starts I managed to stumble 500 meters in 49.2 seconds! Thanks to Donald Nelson for this vid.
It felt great to race again, I plan on doing these time trials at the oval every other week so I can stay motivated through my "trial season". I originally hadn't planned on racing till next year so as not to embarrass myself, but racing is the only reason I skate!

School wise, IM DONE WITH MY GED EDS AFTER 3 YEARS!!! I can finally move on to fun environmental studies classes. I feel like im super close to my degree even though in reality I probably still have 3 years.

What do I do for fun now?



I hang from weather balloons thats what!! Just kidding...Jerry Search put this together. Looks like fun though...

But really, I went camping a couple times last month which lead to some interesting experiences. The first time I went to Grand Titon National Park in Wyoming with Garrett. The first night we camped at Bear Lake in northern Utah, sky was clear and it was beautiful so we slept under the stars. Next day we drove to the park and it was super nice there, big trees, big mountains, good beer.
We were chatting with a park ranger and asked how the bear activity was. She told us theres been a lot, especially in the Shadow Mountain area where we were going to camp that night. We didnt think anything of it and later that day were on our way to the site when all the sudden we look at each other and both say "I have a bad feeling about this..". We got the same uneasy feeling at the same time about camping there because of the bears. Since we both felt liek something might happen that night we decided to drive out of wyoming back into Utah to Logan Canyon.
However, on the way out of Grand Titon, I said to Garrett, its like final destination, we were supposed to die tonight...not I bet a moose will walk in front of us and kill us. about 10 seconds after I said that a GIANT MOOSE with HUGE antlers walks out in front of us. I slam on the breaks and this thing is literally 3 feet in front of us and its PISSED. It starts to charge the car when it gets distracted by another car that came from the other direction. It seemed undecided on which car it disliked the most and then got fed up and went back into the forest.
Death averted...again. Or so I THOUGHT.
We were more than a little creeped out by the timing of the incidents and the incidents themselves, and yet the night was not over. About 5 minutes later these 2 cars come out from behind me riding my bumper and swerving. I think oh wow theyre drunk and I pull over to let them pass and they follow me to the side of the road. I get nervous and get back on the road, as do they. They continue to follow like before. Garrett suggests we lead them to a police station but the nearest one wasnt for at least an hour and we had no reception either. By some miracle about 20 minutes later when I pull over for the third time they pass me. We soon find a camp spot, relax and realise how lucky we were to still be alive! Now THATS a camping trip.

What blog post would be complete without one of my cakes?



Red velvet for Jamahl's 20th.

More cake, and skating too.

I just realized I never posted a pic of the 4th of July cake..which even surprised me. It is a smores cake, Maria was my design consultant :) Chocolate butter cake with marshmallow frosting and gram crackers and hersheys on top. It was waayyyy better than a real smore.



Also the long track has been up about a week now and ive skated on it 2x. Feels little awkward but better than I expected. Jerry Search took this pic of me in the corner with my new super high long track form....lol

Another Cake

This is the cake I made Mikey for his 2nd 19th birthday-



It was a chocolate butter cake covered in chocolate sour cream frosting with raspberry filling in and on top. It was the most amazing cake ever. Ive got a big idea for a 4th of July cake, it will remain a surprise till then! I would love to make more and I have a lot of ideas but ingredients and equipment are expensive, so if anyone wants me to make them a cake, Ill just charge you for ingredients/equip. Any size, shape, flavor, with anything on it. Itll be everything you've ever wished and hoped for. Maybe you're not convinced by the cakes ive made so far, but just wait till you see my 4th of July cake!

Cake

This is the cake I made last night for Brittanys birthday today!! I made it all from scratch, no its not plastic haha. My first time rolling fondant. It was a little thick but still awesome. It was a chocolate butter cake with white almond frosting. I get to make another for Andreas birthday next week!

I didnt make a skydiving post or say anything about my birthday yet, so here it goes. I ended up jumping with Katy and Jerebelle, and Andrea, her mom, and KD were there watching. It was EPIC. Did a backflip out a plane at 13,000ft. No big deal. I decided to do it every year on my birthday I loved it so much. And I only have to do it once more tandem then I can fly solo! I have a video and pictures on a CD but my disc drive is broken so I can only post the pics we took on our phones. Later that day we went to see bridesmaids which was hilarious, I think everyone should go see it, and then Jun drove KD, Gabi and me in his new BMW hardtop convertible to a bar. My first legal drink was called a green swamp monster...dont ask me what was in it, I have no idea. But it was green, haha. I then played the best game of pool in my life. Good birthday :)

Im legit.

I got an email today telling me my blog has been featured on Online Universities' Best Speedskating Blogs!
They have me a sweet badge I put on the right sidebar!! ---------------->
I feel special now. Thanks!

In other news, finals are in 2 weeks, then we officially start training again, then I go skydiving, then I possibly drive to Iowa to visit my brother. My parents are driving out too. Cant wait for a break!
Tomorrow morning I go in for an EMG where they stick my foot with needles to stimulate the muscle and test how well my nerves are healing. It will be sooo much funnn.....not.... BUT now I will never have to go through a recovery like this again because I got Sebra cutproof leggings from Cascade Speedskates!! Im pretty sure because of my injury they're now making it mandatory for all short trackers to wear one of these, not sure if its the whole suit or just the legs, but your welcome short trackers!! :D

Switching

Ive decided to switch over to long track. It could be because the crash put me off, Maybe ive been more interested in LT for a while, maybe I think LT will be easier on my body especially after I recover from this injury. Maybe a mix of all those reasons? who knows. Its helped that everyone even when I was doing ST kept telling me I should switch because id be better at it, so maybe I will be. Well see. Im not sure how fast my leg will keep recovering, I can already do most things related to dryland. I can bike too. Just cant run and skating is a little awkward. The bottom of my foot is still numb but I still don't know if that will matter, as long as I regain the ability to move my toes soon... thats a problem.

Anyway Ill be training this year with the F.A.S.T long track team, we start up again May 2nd. I got my bike all tuned up and ready to go! Not looking forward to summer classes though... Im taking chem, which I thought would just be one class. But noooooo. I have to take a discussion which requires me to take a lecture and I have lab also, which has a lecture as well. BUT! before all this crap I have to take an online class to prep me for the chem. So I basically have no break in between spring and summer semesters. Awesomeee.

On a more fun note, Ive booked my skydiving spot, 4pm on my 21st birthday, may 5th!!!! Jerebelle, Andrea, and Katy are going with me so far. And yes, the reason im jumping out of a plane is because Mikey is driving me INSANE. Just kidding....were just bored out of our minds since theres no practice and theres nothing fun to do in Salt Lake if your under 21.

PS. Im getting a video and/or pictures of my free fall, so you all can see what you missed!!!

The arrival of the Captain.

I got a guinnea pig yesterday!! His name is Captain Jean-Luc Picard. No pics yet since he keeps running around but hes all brown, he likes asparagus, and sleeping in my hoodie pouch.
Also a few weeks ago (yeah I kept forgetting to post this) I went shooting with some of the team. IT WAS AWESOME. New hobby for sure. I must say I was surprised at how powerful the gun was. Then the second shot, the shell hit me in the mouth HHAHA.





Ive decided instead of the birthday trip I was gonna do ill go skydiving with Jerebelle. So far its just us 2 since everyone else is lame. CANT WAIT.

Other that that theres nothin else goin on. Kinda wishing I could have some epic ice climbing or skiing pics up like I normally would this time of year :/

Keep a lookout and pass the word.

Please, please reblog this, even if you don’t live in the area! This is my best friend’s sister, she’s been missing for three days (today is Feb 13 2011, she’s been missing since the 10th).
Name: Marion Chadwick 
Height: 4 ft. 11 inches
Weight: about 115 lbs
Hair/Eyes: Brown hair brown eyes
She was last seen in Pittsford, New York, USA.
If you see her or have any information, please contact ( 1 603 305 9052 ).

Boston (part 2)

Heres the rest of the Boston pics all conveniently located in an album! I didnt post it when I got back b/c I got strep. That was fun. I also got on the ice for the first time a couple days ago just to get a feel for what ill need to work on and what will give me trouble. Balance is an issue lol. I probably wont get back on the ice for a few more months.

Boston (part 1)

Ive only been here 2 days but ive got a lot of pictures so ill post them now! This isnt all of them though, there are too many to post and im too lazy to make a slideshow....but maybe ill end up doing that next week for the Part 2 post...