Snowboarding season has basically just ended (we have a few more weeks, but the main season is over), and it definitely was a good one. I raced in some extremely fast races, landed lots of new tricks, and progressed even more than last year. Last Sunday was race day for me at USASA Nationals, and I did better than I expected. I had moved to open class earlier this season, so the competition got tougher at the regional races. I qualified 18th in time trials, and took second in my first heat to move on into quarterfinals. My second race was pretty intense, racing two amazing riders, one of them an Olympian and the other a US Team hopeful. I took every risk I could at every turn in order to give myself the best chances at beating one of them, and most of it payed off, as I stayed with them until the bottom, where I unfortunately took too much of a risk on a turn and crashed. My final placing was 11th, which was a lot better than I expected.

Last Wednesday was Jadyn’s nationals race day, and I left school early to go watch her races. I arrived at Copper, threw on my snowboarding gear over my clothes, and jumped on the gondola, getting to the course in time to watch her first heat, which she won pretty easily, and then hung out with her until her quarterfinals, which, after a tough battle between her and another girl, she won. At that point, I unfortunately had to go to track practice, in which time she won her semifinal heat, advancing to finals for the first time in her 5 years of competing. After my track practice was over, I heard she placed second in finals, taking the silver medal at nationals, and decided to drive back over to Copper for the second time that day to watch the awards ceremony and see Jadyn get her medal. Afterwards, we went out and ate dinner to celebrate.

And that was the end of the competition season (although I didn’t mention Isaac putting a decent run down in slopestyle on Sunday to finish 20th or Jadyn’s 12th in halfpipe/11th in slopestyle. That happened too, but wasn’t as exciting to write about). I had some amazing races this year, at Ski Cooper for both USASA regional races and the more competitive NorAm/Hole Shot Tour and Rev Tour comps, as well as at Crested Butte.

Track season has been pretty good – a lot better than last year – and I’ve gotten a couple PRs plus a few top-8 finishes, which scores points for the team. I’ve run the 100m dash more than ever this season, with our top sprinters being either injured or absent, which has been great for my speed (although not so much for my endurance. Definitely need to work on that a bit). I ran a 12.98 at the first meet of the season, followed by a 12.80 during the second meet and a 12.63 at our meet at Eagle Valley yesterday. Our 4×100 relay team has been kind of sporadic this season, with a ton of different runners subbing in for others being gone (I don’t think we’ve had the same 4×100 team for any two of our meets this year). Our best time of 47.3 doesn’t even come close to our times from last season, which was kind of unfortunate because we were aiming to break the school record of 45.8 this season.

I’ve been focusing on long jump more this year than ever, leaning away from the high jump this year a bit, and it’s payed off, even without any real coaching. Two weeks ago I jumped a new PR (by 5 inches) of 18’1″, taking 7th place in qualifying, and making my first long jump finals in a varsity meet ever. I was so stoked on finally clearing 18 feet, although I think I could’ve jumped farther if I didn’t have other events going on at the same time, because at that meet I had just finished long jump and the 100m, ran the 4×200 immediately afterwards, sprinted back over to the long jump pit for finals, then immediately ran back over to the starting line for the 4×100 with barely any time to warm up.

Spring break is coming up after next week, and I’m hoping to get some good training in for track, and break some more PRs at the meet right after break ends. We have a few more weeks of snowboarding before all the mountains close, which should be a lot of fun without the competition training.

The second quarter and the first semester of the school year are almost over! I take two of my finals tomorrow, with more to follow in the next three weeks. Snowboarding is in full swing, and Isaac, Jadyn and I are leaving to Aspen on Saturday for the first Rail Jam of the season. I’ve been training a ton on snow, and even got some time on my race board last week when we ran a Giant Slalom course on Friday. I still have a lot of time before my first boardercross race of the season, but it’s been good to get some practice.

School’s been going pretty good this semester – I have all 3.5’s and 4’s in my classes, which is equivalent to all A’s. Last Saturday, I took my first SAT, and I think it went pretty well. I woke up early in the morning and drove out to a high school in Leadville, where I took the test with a couple other kids who decided to replace a morning of relaxation and/or sleep with a 4 hour test. After the test, I went home and rested for a while, then got dressed up to go to the Team Summit Ski Ball fundraiser, where I was volunteering that day. I helped some people bid on the auction, and hung out with the other kids on Team Summit who were volunteering with me. Overall, it was a great time, although I went to bed past midnight and slept in the next day. I can’t wait for more sleep, which is only 16 days away for me 😛

 

We’ve been getting A LOT of snow recently. Most of the mountains in the area have either opened or will open next week. School’s been going pretty well (all A’s), and snowboarding season’s about to start. I’ve been going to Woodward every weekend on Friday and sometimes Saturday, and it’s been super beneficial. My skating and roller-boarding have improved by approximately 1000% this preseason, and I’m hoping it will benefit my snowboarding.

Speaking of snowboarding, I’ve planned out my races this season! I’ll have a ton more than last season, at higher levels of competition as well.

• USASA Ski Cooper – January 11th-13th
• Hole Shot Tour/Rev Tour Ski Cooper – February 20th-23rd
• USASA Crested Butte – March 1st-3rd
• Hole Shot Tour Holiday Valley – March 14th-15th
• USASA Nationals – Early April

There’s a chance there will be a few more, and in addition to those I’m also competing in the New Years Eve Rail Jam, which is always fun. I’ve also been helping to teach kids tennis clinics at the Keystone Tennis Center every Tuesday and Thursday – it’s been really fun. Learning how to teach kids has been a great learning experience, and it’s been a great job. I guess I’ll have to write more on that later, because I have to leave to go teach one right now!

We just got to Texas yesterday for a short fall break week and family reunion. It’s been great being back in Austin and seeing our friends. Last night we went out to dinner with some friends, then went over to our friends the Deweys’ house to hang out. Our first quarter of the school year just finished last Friday, and I think it went pretty well. Classes for me are a bit tougher than last year, although still pretty easy. I’ve been driving to school every day, which is a big change from last year. Isaac’s been coming along every day now that he’s a freshman, and it’s been fun having him in the car with me, although I’ve been driving him to so many places around the county.

Snowboarding season is just about to start, and I couldn’t figuratively be more ready. Early season has always been one of my favorite parts of the season, and I hope this season won’t be any different. I’ve been boarding once already up Loveland Pass, and it was super fun sliding rails and being on my board again (although I basically destroyed it with all the rocks). The New Year’s Eve rail jam is coming up in just about two months, and then it’s going to be race season. I have a ton of boardercross races lined up, although the Revolution Tour schedule hasn’t been finalized yet. So far, I have six races confirmed so far – three races in January at Ski Cooper, and then another three later in the season in March at Crested Butte. I’ll also hopefully get three or so races on the Rev Tour, and maybe more if I do some NorAm races on the Hole Shot Tour.

That’s basically it right now – school and prepping for snowboarding. The rest of our time in Austin is going to be extremely fun, and I can’t wait (again, obviously figuratively). I’ll hopefully be able to post a bit more, but we’ll see.