The Pinnacle

After these past 10 days (yeah, it's only been 10! NYC seems like last month!) I'm ready to head back into the bubble. The little Luge bubble that puts me out of touch with reality for a while and lets me focus on sliding and competing and training. It's selfish but the reality of my life right now is I still have four more World Cups. I still have two weeks of training and then beyond the opening ceremonies I've still got to complete four race runs down the Whistler track.

It's hard to believe that I've been working for so long to make "THE OLYMPICS!" that it doesn't seem real yet. When you fill out a goal sheet or you're asked in an interview "What's your ultimate goal?" you always answer with "To hopefully make the Olympics." Well, now what do I say? What's the next question? Where's my next step? What's my next goal? I don't need to answer all these questions right now, but it's what I've been thinking of while being at home.

The reality of the Games is that it is the Olympics. It's a BIG deal, anything can truly happen. But when you're asked 'So you gonna win gold?' You sound like a pessimist when you scoff at the suggestion. The truth is I don't see myself as Gold medal material. My sliding hasn't yet attained the level of professionalism that I see in other sliders. I'm not being negative but rather just honest. Because on the flip side of that, I also didn't REALLY see myself as being an Olympian (I still laugh at the title! I can't actually use it to describe myself in conversation yet, WAY too wierd) especially after last year and not racing ONE single World Cup.

So I'm going to put my thoughts away and focus on next weekend's world cup in Konigssee, Germany. That is my first goal. I'm going to take these next 47 days one at a time, race by race, run by run and know that I've earned my spot on the US Olympic Luge team with just that mentality. I'm going to enjoy the opening ceremonies and focus on putting down four clean runs at the Games. Then I'm going to celebrate my 23rd birthday with all my family and friends in Whistler. Then I'm going to cheer on the rest of my teammates representing the USA in their respective sports. The rest of my life I can figure out afterwards...