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.

We’ve almost been in school again for a month now. New classes, new teachers, and a new year. Summer was amazing, we went to so many places and did a ton of fun stuff with a lot of friends, it’s kind of unfortunate that it’s over. But snowboarding season is just around the corner, and new adventures with it. This is the first year I’m not doing a school fall sport, and it’s been pretty interesting. I’ve been playing a lot of tennis, as well as training for track almost every day. I’ve been driving over to Fairplay (two towns over) every couple of days to run on their track, which is much better than our concrete one.

School’s been pretty normal, although I have a feeling it’ll be more difficult in a few weeks once things really get going. All my classes have been relatively easy so far, and more than a few of them actually interest me for once. I’m taking Year I of IB DP Spanish, which has become extremely interesting now that I have a native Spanish speaker for a teacher. He just came over from Spain, and although it’s been a learning curve to learn the dialect and grammar differences between what I’ve previously been taught and the “vosotros” form used in Spain, it’s been good to talk with a native speaker. In addition to that, I’m taking DP Math Year II, DP HOTA (History of the Americas), DP Biology, DP English, and Physics. All of those are going pretty normally, which is basically saying I’d rather not write about all of those right now. That’s pretty much it for school right now, so now on to the less boring stuff.

I’ve been working at Digitiqe in town, fixing iPhones and selling various technology-related things, which has basically been the best job I could’ve asked for. YoYoLoco’s been great, too. Isaac and I have been going down to the shop to host YoYo Night every Friday, and it’s always a blast with Kendama and YoYo players coming around to hang out and play.

We’ve also been hanging out at Woodward Barn a ton, having got our passes renewed a few weeks ago. It’s been fun to get back on the trampolines and pump track, learning some new tricks.

Perhaps the biggest difference from this year and last years is my ability to drive. I got my license when we went down to Texas, and it’s been a big help. I’ve been driving to school every day, taking Isaac and jamming out to music on the way over. I can go anywhere without taking the Summit Stage, and it helps out when mom and dad are busy.

We’ve been seeing an influx of animals around lately, including deer, foxes, bears, and meesen. They’ve been hanging around our house, with the moose blocking our driveway a lot of the time. They’re amazing to watch, and it’s always a treat to see them around (minus when I can’t pull into the driveway because of them).

 

Happy Fathers Day, Dad! I love you much, and hope that you have a great day. I’m stoked that you’re going to be able to go on an adventure in Hawaii (even if it is without us), and that you’ll get some relaxation time. I really appreciate everything you’ve done for us, especially because I wouldn’t exist without you 😛

In particular, these last 5 years have probably been the 5 best of my life (although we did have some amazing times living in Texas…). Visiting all these amazing places, we’ve stood at the lowest point in the US and flown around the highest. We’ve been to 35 states in our travels, visiting 29/60 National Parks, plus many more NPS sites. That’s all because you went out of your way to give us an amazing childhood, which was unequivocally achieved. It’s always a joy to play sports with you, and a privilege that you can play with us no matter the sport, whether it’s soccer, running, hiking, tennis, basketball, football, ultimate frisbee, or snowboarding. Not many other families can play such a multitude of sports together, and fewer can shred down a mountain together. The gifts you’ve given us outnumber the characters I could write right now, which is an unspecified large amount. We’re always ready for an adventure, and while we’re locked down (to an extent) with school from August-May, that time in between or on breaks never goes unused.

So, to reiterate, thanks. You’re the best dad I could possibly ask for. I can’t wait to see what the next years have in store for us. Let’s go have some more adventure.

 

I’m now nearing the end of track season, and it’s been a pretty good season. I didn’t get the times I initially wanted at the beginning of the season, and still haven’t run under a minute in the 400m, although I ran 60.0 a few weeks ago. I ran at the 4A League Championships over the weekend on Friday and Saturday in Grand Junction, and it went unsurprisingly average. I’m not sure what happened in the Long Jump, but I somehow only jumped 16’5″, over a foot shorter than what I can usually do. Both of my relays (the 4×100 and the 4×200) went pretty bad, as our fastest runner didn’t show up for the meet. We took last in both relays, but still scored points in the 4×200 because a team got disqualified.

My 200m went as I predicted. I got a new PR at 26.15, but got last (although it was only by three hundredths of a second). It was still a fun race to run, and I definitely want to run it again next season. The weather was pretty hot over in Grand Junction, with the temperature getting into the upper 80s and low 90s, but that didn’t stop us from having a great time around the meet and at the hotel. At the hotel, most of our team jumped in the pool, and we messed around for a while, then went inside to play games until we went to sleep. At the meet, I got to relax a bit between events in my hammock, which I put up along with many other kids underneath the pavilion where we set up camp. We ended up having three triple-decker hammock setups, which was awesome. Overall, it was a great time, and just as fun as last year.

I only have two meets left until the end of the season, so hopefully I can get some new PR’s in the 100, 200, 400, High Jump and Long Jump before the end of the season. I’ve only ran two 200s, two 400s and three 100s, so hopefully I can improve on my best times for the season in those events during these last two meets. My bests for the season (so far) are 12.85 in the 100, 26.15 in the 200, 60.08 in the 400, 5’2″ in the High Jump, and 17’3″ in the Long Jump (I haven’t done much long jump this season). We’re currently 9/10ths of a second off the 4×100 school record (which is at 45.8, still standing from the 80s), and I’m hoping we can get close to it or break it at the last meet. Mom got my leg of our season best of 46.7 on video, so you can watch it below.