Today was the start of the USA Nationals held in Steamboat Springs, CO. It has been a crazy few weeks leading up to this day with a bunch of curve balls thrown my way. But….. it was time to RACE and put everything behind me.
First up the Classic! Just as a refresher, the Classic is the longer event typically draining every ounce of energy out of ya. USTSA decided to squeeze two races in today. The Classic typically is one run and done..but since we have a ton of people traveling from all over the US they decided to squeeze one more race in there to make the trip with their while.
Race 1. I was the 2nd male to go…Bad thing or good thing? Well the good thing is that you have a fresh course the bad thing is that you do not have a course report. Course reports are essential!! Typically after a few people run the course my coach will radio up to all of us and tell us “how the course is running.” And depending on his feedback it can really change your game plan. For instance, I went 2nd and I know for a fact that after I went….our coach got on the horn and told everybody (teammates) that “Tommy just boosted the jump and overshot the landing.” Typical by the way. Then everybody then makes mental notes and changes their game plan a touch. So yes, I overshot the jump which probably cost me some time but I knew I was fast. I have’t felt this good in a while. After the jump I got refocused and started skiing well on the bottom section of the course. Then the skate…I usually look forward to the skate section but lately I have been feeling a little sluggish with my fitness. I tried to conserve energy the few gates prior the skate so that I could charge during the skate. Although it was not my normal charge it must of been enough to earn me a spot on the podium. Very EXCITED!!
2nd Place.
Race 2. Just a great day overall. I could not be happier right now. I skied very similar to my first run. Perhaps a little cleaner and less charge but it did the trick! Oh this time I did have a course report by the way. MY SISTER! Tanya and her husband, Dave made the trek out to support. Not only did they show great support by Tanya was sending me text messages about how the course was running and so forth. I actually made a pretty significant change from run 1 to run 2 because of her feedback. Thanks sister!! Race 2 I finished 2nd place again.
Tomorrow we race again. Sprint Classic (the shorter event). I am looking forward to another good day. And also want to say….man it is good to have fam here. Mom, Tanya, David, Kristy Lee, and little Daniel thanks for coming!! Glory be to God for giving me the strength to be able to compete today. I am blessed.
