After much anticipation, the Soelden Giant Slalom race—a race I’d been looking forward to competing in ever since an injured foot sidelined me just three days prior to the race a year ago—didn’t exactly go the way I wanted it to… I skied the top half of the course too conservatively and the bumpy snow conditions toward the bottom of the course got the best of me as I came down with bib number 55. In World Cup GS and Slalom, only the top thirty finishers from first run qualify to compete in second run. My time from first run placed me in a disappointing 50th, nowhere near qualifying for second run.

It was strange to be competing in October. The earliest I’ve ever raced in the past is mid to late November, and even then, I’ve always been a little slow at getting myself accustomed to the whole racing thing again. As a perfectionist, I love to train. Every day, April through November, I train myself to get better. I take pride in the improvements I make, and I enjoy the challenging process. Competition is very different from training. Less analyzing—more GO. When I am racing well, I am ideally not thinking about what I should be doing technically, I am just relying on the confidence that I already have in my ability, and I’m attacking.

My finish in Soelden brought a couple of things to my attention. One is that I have had such little time on my new equipment, (three weeks—to be exact—on my completely new ski and boot set-up) that my lack of miles showed through when the pressure was on. While I was skiing fast and solid in the days leading up to the race, during the race, when I approached my run in a different racing-mentality, the things I’d been working on technically fell apart. I would attribute this mostly to the fact that I am still getting accustomed to my new skis and boots, which has proven to be a long and meticulous process. On a positive side, however, the other thing I became aware of that day as I watched my competitors take their second run, was that those girls have nothing on me. Seriously. I have no doubt in my mind that I am just as talented, if not more, than every last one of those girls. The only thing that stands between where they are right now and myself is time and patience.

I am now enjoying a week and a half of time-off at home in Bellevue. I will be signing contracts with Lange (boots), Xbox (headgear sponsor), Swix (my new pole sponsor), and with Carrera (my new helmet and eyewear sponsor.) During my short time home I look forward to going to a concert, a big Halloween party (where my beloved Seattle-rapper Sir Mix-A-Lot will be the DJ!) and a Seahawks game… On November 4th, I go to Park City for team meetings, physical testing, uniforming, and team pictures. On the 7th we head to Colorado for our final two-week on-snow training camp. I will now have to qualify to race in the next World Cup GS race, which takes place in Aspen on the 26th.