Thanks for the Votes!

I'm back from Milwaukee and World Cup/Olympic Trials. It was quite a trip.

I am still playing catch up this week and am working on posts and a myriad of photos to share of the meet. I can tell you that my friend Trevor Marsicano and his friend Jilleanne Rookard made it onto the World Cup Team and will be leaving for Germany today. Good luck!!

One item that was on top of the agenda was submitting my entry for the 2010 Vancouver Blogging Team. I wanted to let you know that I appreciate all the comments and votes on the poll I had on the blog. The winning entries were "LiveStrong, Baby!" and "Three Loop Cure". Actually, the "Three Loop Cure" and "Reenactment Day" were tied for votes so,  I left it up to heads or tails.

The news just reported that the Olympic torch is on it's way from Athens to Vancouver. Hopefully, it will guide this writer to join the Olympiads in February and share their stories with you!

Rest Day Equals A Good Day

Yesterday was a rest day for the speedskaters and fans here in Milwaukee. It was a much needed day for everyone.

Thursday evening races at the Pettit Ice Arena consisted of the Men's and Ladies 1000 meter, Ladies 3000 meter and Men's 5000 meter races. Skaters faced a tough night of "slow" ice and fast competition.

As I mentioned in a previous post, I came out to Milwaukee to cheer on and support my friends that are skating this event. They are all doing extremely well in a very stressful qualifying event. Stressful because competition is so incredibly fierce and the pressure to do well weighs heavy on an athlete's shoulders. There are only 4 or 5 open slots and 20 plus skaters are trying to fill them.

When you have a bad day, sometimes it's just that. A bad day. But, you really don't want that bad day to show up during a competition. It's those that can pull out of a bad day and recover that shine bright.

My friend, who is on the path to becoming part of the Olympic team, just had one of those days. He took his rest day to recover and re-group. And today: boy, did he shine. He came in 3rd in his 1500m race today and we were all so overjoyed for his success that it was as if he came in 1st. Our pride was so great, that most of us became very emotional when sharing congratulatory hugs and well wishes.

It was a good day.

Now for some results:

World Cup Team for :

Women's 3000m

1. Jilleanne Rookard
2. Maria Lamb
3. Nancy Swider-Peltz
4. Catherine Raney-Norman
5. Mia Manganello

Women's 1500m

1. Jennifer Rodriguez
2. Jilleanne Rookard
3. Maria Lamb
4. Nancy Swider-Peltz

Men's 1500m

1. Chad Hedrick
2. Shani Davis
3. Trevor Marsicano
4. Jonathan Kuck
5. Brian Hansen

Tomorrow will have the final 1000 meter, Women's 5000 meter and Men's 10000 meter.

Raining in Milwaukee

After a long day of travel, I finally made it to Milwaukee.  When I arrived at the airport I found two friends who were on the same flight pattern and we shared flights, connections and eventually a car to arrive at the Pettit National Ice Arena. It was a wonderful fall day; surprisingly warm and sunny.

My friend Marty is a Masters World Champion speedskater and a lot of fun to hang around. He was hoping to make it to the Pettit to get some practice ice and settle in. We made it with about an hour to spare. As he got his skates put together, it was nice to catch up with folks I haven't seen in awhile.  They made the trek out here to train, some months ago and some just a few weeks ago. When you train with the same familiar faces 4-5 times a week, you start to miss them. As Marty took to the ice, I shared many hugs and hellos. It is great to see everyone again.

As I mentioned, I normally compete in Short Track speedskating. I've skated long track here and there; a marathon, some sprint races and I even skated Long Track Nationals. BUT, and it is a big BUT- I am not a good long tracker. One of the hardest things for me to master is the turn or corner on an oval. I always get a stroke or two into the turn and then I have to stop because I am headed for the middle. See, both types of speedskating are done on ice but they are very different. The equipment is different, the track is different and the sport is a little different with the rules as well. I like to skate the oval very much, but practice is a must before I consider any major competition in the future.

The transition can be done from one style to the next; I recognized a lot of names from the short track world in the pairings yesterday. I did not realize that most had made the "switch", but all looked great and skated some rather good times.  One thing that is new to me for this event is I'm not skating-I'm spectating. Very weird, but extremely fun to play the "fan" role.

Yesterday the 500 meter races were held. I had two friends skate. One set a personal best and one set the minds of the true sprinters on alert for the time that was skated was not expected as the 500m is not their best event. As the pairings moved on, the times got faster and I remember after one pairing flew over the finish line I kept saying "wow"-so fast!

The timing mechanics were dealing with gremlins in the system, so I had to wait to hear the times announced. I completely missed the mens World Cup selection for the 500m distance; sorry about that. Had to go back to the hotel for much needed sleep. However, I did get the Women's team selection:

• 1. Elli Ochowicz
• 2. Heather Richardson
• 3. Jennifer Rodriguez
• 4. Lauren Cholewinsky
• 5. Rebekah Bradford

All these ladies skated low 39 second 500 meters! Congratulations.

My guess for the men would be:
Tucker Fredricks
Brent Aussprung
Shani Davis
Nick Pearson

These guys were skating in the low 35 second range for the first set.

Today I have quite a few friends skating the 1000 meter, 3000 meter and 5000 meter. It will be a very long day I'm sure. It's raining today but I do not think that even the rain could dampen the excitement we are all feeling.

I will try to post again tomorrow. Pictures will be added to posts when I return back home.

Now it's time for a much needed cup of coffee...

Speedskating Olympic Trials Are Here!

In a little over 24 hours, the U.S. Long Track Speedskating Olympic Trials/World Cup Team qualifying competition will be under way. It will take place in Milwaukee, WI at the Pettit National Ice Center, one of only two (the other being in Salt Lake City, UT)  indoor Long track speedskating ovals in the country. Six of my friends have achieved qualifying times to compete for the opportunity to represent the United States at the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Games. To say I am proud of each and every one of them is an understatement.

I compete mostly in the Short Track speedskating. Most folks that are not familiar with the sport give that puzzled look when I say that and ask "is that the kind that has the two skaters on the big track?" I am able to describe the separate style by those that put each discipline as they say, "on the map". When I mention Apolo Anton Ohno for short track and Bonnie Blair or Eric Heiden for long track, the puzzled look yields to surprise and "oh! That's with the helmets; you do that?!"

Short Track skating indeed has the helmets, neck guards and cut proof suits. It is skated on a hockey rink ice sheet with black blocks set in the corners that measure out an 111 meter size track. Short track is often described as "Nascar on ice" as there can be up to 6 skaters on the starting line for a race, which is lighting fast. Six skaters equals 12 feet equipped with 17" razor sharp blades going all out to reach the finish line first. Crashes are hard and some can be pretty messy.

Long Track is skated on a 400 meter oval with two skaters on the start line. Each skater is racing the clock; therefore, will switch lanes in the back stretch so that one does not have the inner lane advantage or shorter distance skated. Added to this is a skate that has a hinged blade also known as a clap blade, because it makes a clapping sound when it hits the bottom of the boot after a stroke. The clap skate has allowed competitors to acheive world record times on ice. Skaters have worked on their technique for so many years that their smooth rocking from side to side seems to give the impression that they are going in slow motion. In reality, they are traveling at close to 30 mph! Now imagine the fitness level you need to squat and propell your body at that speed for up to 3.5 miles (5000 meters).

I have played a lot of different sports and have been a part of many teams. I can honestly say that by far,  speedskating has been the best sport I have competed in.  Its reach is world-wide, yet the community is so small.  I have never been around a more supportive group of fellow athletes. We are all competitive, however, game is brought to the ice and left on the ice. The moment you are exiting the ice, you see a lot of high fives or pats on the back. What are we saying to eachother? "Nice race." or "Good job." If the race did not go as you envisioned, we know when to offer words of encouragement and when not to say anything. That's not to say one doesn't hear others talking smack before a race, but they are far and few between.

Dreams will be achieved or broken in the next 5 days. All the blood, sweat and tears that have been put into training for the last three years will be laid all on the line for a spot to compete in Vancouver. I will not be skating but I will be there to support and cheer on my friends to skate the best race they can. I am so proud of them.

I will try to post some entries during the trip, so check back and see how your team is doing.

"Don't Feed the Trolls"

My blog is starting to travel the globe which is very exciting.  I appreciate all the supportive encouragement you have shared with me to continue doing what I am doing.  Thank you!

You will notice that I have now added comment moderation to the blog.  To most of my readers I know this will not discourage you from leaving a comment. The reason this has been put in place is because I have a troll. This troll likes reading my blog because they keep coming back but doesn't seem to have anything nice to say, especially when it comes to the light-hearted entries I post from time to time.

So, to remain neutral, this is all I will say on the subject:

Please don't feed the Trolls.

Really?? Part 3

Grooming habits should be kept private. Period. When a person decides to share these habits with the public, it makes one say ‘Really?? Are you kidding me?” Honestly, it’s nasty.

I used to work for what I would equate to an insurance “sweatshop”. My husband was laid off from his job quite a few years ago and our youngest was riddled with health issues. It was not a time to be without health insurance, just in case we really needed it. So, as my husband made his way through the job search ocean, I went back to work for a medical claims processing company. It was horrible. Employees would clock in with a “Morning.” and clock out with a “Night.” Most would wear headphones and listen to music with no interaction with anyone. Being a social person, the monotony was brutal. If I removed myself from the life sucking vortex of the computer screen long enough to rub life back into my eyes, all I could really hear was the constant tapping of 100+ computer keys. The only sound that could rip through that white noise was the clip-clip-clip of someone cutting their fingernails. It wasn’t just a ‘let me fix this hangnail’ kind of thing, it was all ten fingers and I swear maybe some toes. Every other day, my stomach would turn when I heard that noise. I could not find the culprit at first but did not have to wait long to find the pile of nail clippings alongside the wall of someone’s cubicle. So that I would not vomit at the thought of hearing that again, I brought in my own set of headphones and became another drone; only I listened to books on tape rather than music. I believe I made it through 12 books by the time my husband found a job and I happily gave my resignation.

I recently witnessed another faux-pas at a very public event. I would say that this habit is something I see most often and sorry to say it fellas, but you are 9 times out of 10 the offender. I was standing in a “food room” and helping myself to a cup of soup when walking toward me was a group of 4 college guys. One in particular had his finger so far up his nose that I didn’t think could be possible. He dug for a few seconds, but I looked at him with a “Ewww” look. He was oblivious to both my look and his action that was prompting my facial contortion. It made me think of Jerry Seinfeld saying “It wasn’t a pick!” As a viewer, we all knew that; but from the angle seen by his latest lady friend, it most definitely was a pick. There was no mistaking this either because it was a full frontal view for all to see. This happens as I am in traffic too. As I drive by guys in a car or see them at a red light, they are picking away. Do you not realize that I can see you? You are not invisible when you do that! I didn’t eat for the rest of the day from that room and stuck to my nicely wrapped granola bar stashed in my coat pocket.

Over the summer I had a friend share his experience of a “Really?” category. He mentioned that I should use it for one of my blog posts. Well, Dan here it is!
Dan was at a gas station and fueling up for the day when he noticed something that didn’t quite register at first. The person close by, also filling up their gas tank was brushing their teeth. When would you ever feel the need to load up the toothbrush with paste of your choice and use bottled water to rinse and spit? Most rest areas have bathrooms that you could use. If you forget to do this most basic thing in the morning, buy some gum. This is not a good example of multi-tasking; it’s just gross!

All of these things cannot be hidden by the Harry Potter’s Cloak of Invisibility. It’s not real, unless you are a character in the book. All of these personal grooming habits should be kept in the privacy of your own bathroom. I don’t want to hear your clippers or see if you can make it to the next knuckle on your pointer digit or jump out of the way of your Colgate swill. Take note all public hygiene offenders: I just heard on the news that today is the official “Global Hand Washing Day”.

Thank goodness.

And Then There Were Two

I got some very exciting news yesterday. There is a contest out there that I want to enter that would enable me to go to the Olympic Games in Vancouver AND do what I love to do; watch the best of the best compete in their sport and blog about it! I mean really, how could it get any better than that? The only thing that could make it any better would be to add coffee and chocolate.

My dilemma is this: I need to pick two blog entries that "he/she feels is best representative to the quality and nature of his/her blog postings".

I am going to ask you, the reader to do me a favor. Read through my blog. Start with the archived entries and work up to present. Then vote on two of your favorites and share them in the comment section.

I will tally the votes and share the winners on Monday, October 26th.

Thanks for reading and your help!

LiveStrong Day; Wear Yellow!

Today is LiveStrong Day. It is the day that Lance Armstrong was diagnosed with testicular cancer. It is also a day to celebrate that he is a survivor and to help support and bring awareness about cancer and the treatment of this disease to the global forefront. Cancer touches each and everyone of us in some fashion, whether through a family member, friend, co-worker or self. Show your support today by wearing yellow and spread hope to find a cure for ALL cancers!

I am re-posting LiveStrong, Baby! to share a little bit of how cancer has touched my life.



Yesterday, my husband and I had our own little Tour de France game goin’ on. I even donned my “yellow jersey” for the occasion. It was a day filled with sprints, climbs, hammers and cracks and it was awesome.

In 2006, my husband was diagnosed with testicular cancer. We were fortunate to have caught it early, but its effects were life altering. We suddenly became acutely aware of what is important to us as a couple and to our family. It is a hard thing to go through even if the prognosis is good. The shock of the news, surgery, treatment- whatever form that may be- (in our case radiation) and the years of follow-up, always with the pit in your stomach waiting to hear that “it’s good!” and you can exhale with the small sigh of relief.

We admired Lance Armstrong and his riding abilities since his first return to the cycling scene, but became true fans in 2006. His foundation LAF helped us in our search for as much information as possible and I believe gave us hope that we could pull thorough this challenge in our lives. What is most amazing is that it gave my husband encouragement to get back on his bike.

When my husband and I first met, he was a cyclist and I was not. He had a beautiful blue Trek bike and I had a red Puch. The Trek was light and fast, the Puch, heavy and slow. I used my bike to get to my job as a lifeguard during the summers of college. He commuted on his as well, but also trained. We started riding together and I worked my ass off trying to keep up with him, which of course never happened unless he was kind enough to slow down. As the years passed, we upgraded bikes, however he was always ahead on our rides and I was always working.

My husband is a very gentle soul, very evenly tempered and not extremely competitive; however, something happens to him when he is on a bike. He doesn’t want to catch and pass the person he sees in front of him, he wants to catch pass and crush the person ahead of him, especially if it is on a hill; and can he climb! He does not compete, but if he did, he would definitely be successful! One thing that I have noticed over the past year or two is that he has become very lean yet has not lost any of his power on the bike. Hmm, sound familiar? I think with certain folks, cancer and the outcome of it, does change the structure of one’s body. For him it only made him stronger on the bike!

Recent rides for us have been the same old, same old- he’s ahead and I’m working hard. That is, until yesterday.

I have been working very hard this summer to get back into shape for speed skating season. Last year was basically a hiatus for me as I had no time to commit to training, so I decided to lay it on the line this year and go for it. I’ve been cycling as much as I can but he has definitely been on more rides than I this summer. Last week we did a fairly hard ride and he crushed me. I knew I was holding him back and apologized the whole way home. I just couldn’t hang.

Yesterday, we started our day watching the Tour de France and the mountain top finish. It was so exciting. We talked about the ride and how the riders finished and our thoughts on the team’s game plans. We decided for our ride we would do a fairly flat ride that has a snotty hill to it and a few rollers, but great for interval training with long flat stages. We got our stuff together and were off.

The first hill is short, a little steep but hard for me because it is right at the beginning of the ride. He was up and around the bend before I was half way up. I caught up to his wheel and then the game began. He started with his usual high cadence and took off, only this time I stuck to his wheel. A little peek over his shoulder and the hammer came down. I matched it. Another peek and this time surprise. He slowed and we rode side by side for a little while chatting and quizzing to see how each felt. He knew I had been riding over the weekend and already had a hard ride under my belt. But I answered with “I feel pretty good.”

We hit the first long flat stage and I could see him revving up and clicking his gears. I thought “Stay here. Stay here for as long as you can.” And I did! I thought “Yes! TODAY is the DAY!” Another accel and I was still the yellow shadow. I saw a road sign up ahead and decided to sprint for it- I broke off and threw down my own hammer and broke away for a few, but soon he was on my wheel and I brought him past the sign. We did this cat and mouse up to the snotty hill, which he blew up to the top, but this time he was not waiting as long as usual. It’s a small path up this hill and the overgrown brush reminded me of the crazy fans on the mountain stage we watched earlier. We eased through the rollers and were soon on our way back.

On our last decent, I was ready. So ready in fact, that when we got to the bottom and the flat I was the one yelling “Faster! GO!GO!GO!” He picked it up, but I passed and down came the hammer again. Another hill…down…up…and at the top, my foot came unclipped from my pedal. The stinker! He heard that and took off! One thing that is to my advantage- you make me mad and I will go after you with everything I have. I gritted my teeth and all I could hear in my head was Phil Liggett and Paul Sherwen commentary. “Oh, my! The maillot jaune (yellow jersey) has been put in a spot of trouble! Will she be able to claw her way back to the wheel of the break-a-way rider? I don’t believe it, the gap has been bridged and we have a race back on our hands.” A peek over the shoulder and a shake of the head and click-click, he’s off again. We got to the next flat stage and the jersey cracked. Paul and Phil in my head “Paul, I think the yellow jersey has cracked. Yes, Phil, I believe you are right. A gallant effort has been put on this afternoon, but I believe it is all over now and the yellow jersey must ride their own pace just to stay alive.”

It took a while, but I eventually caught up. An easy spin and one last effort. This time, the yellow stuck to the wheel and lost no time across the finish.
It was the first time that I was able to hang and actually push my husband to ride harder. It was great and we both had so much fun!

Lance is inspiring those on the roads in France, but also those on the roads at home.
Livestrong!