Prague World Cup Preliminary Day

After a week of enjoyable training on the Troja Slalom Course in Prague, CZ, the days of racing began. Today was Preliminary runs, determining the racers who will progress to Semifinals, and possibly Finals tomorrow. I did my usuall pre-race preparation - walking the course, talking it over with my fellow athletes, and getting plenty of sleep the night before. This morning I woke up, walked the course, watched pre-runs, warmed up, and then hit the course for my first run. My first run was clean, but not nearly as fast as it needed to be. I finished feeling unsatisfied and longing for the speed that I lacked. After my first run I went inside and got warm, and tried to remove my mind from the race for an hour before my second run. When the time rolled around, I warmed up and went through my race plan in my mind again. I went all out on my second run - directing gates I had spun, and throwing far more gutsy moves than on my first run. All went well until gate 11...then I drove right by a gate. I was shocked, and severely bummed out - I knew I had just blown a good run. I went back for the gate, and gave the rest of the course my all, but my run still wasn't made up in my mind or on the stopwatch. I finished the day sitting in 13th - so I'll advance to Semis, but I'll have to step up my race in order to make top 10 and advance to Finals tomorrow afternoon.

Thanks for checking in - I'll let you know how tomorrow goes!