The Wins

First win: last Friday afternoon, spoke with the Management and Governance Committee (MGC) of the United States Olympic Committee (USOC), and they upheld my grievance! Well, the important parts:

• The top 14 including World Cup, not top just top 10, are pre-qualified for the 2007 Team Trials.
• There will be 2 additional men and 2 additional women from each regional qualifier, for a total of 18 women and 18 men at the 2007 Team Trials.
• Brad and I, as a result, are already qualified for the Trials! Yay!
• The Ted Stevens Chief of Staff even followed up with me to make sure things were resolved ok - amazing that they actually did. Made me feel warm and fuzzy, since of course I pretty much expected the grievance to get lost in the politics of the Senator's usual business, but it didn't. Way to go.
  

Second win: the next day, Saturday, Brad and I raced in the Pioneer Cup. And....I won! I didn't think I had a snowballs chance in hell of beating L, but somehow I did, chopping 7 tenths off my personal best (PB)! (Granted, she's distracted by planning a wedding, but I'll take what I can get.)

• Former PB: 52.64 second downtime
• First run: 52.05! (It was a fast track.) I was ahead of L by a tenth.
  
• Second run, I was positive L had it. I was only ahead by a tenth, and she could make that up easily.
  
• And she did, laying down a 51.94 second run!
  
• When I saw that time, I knew it was over.
• Loaded my sled, and had a sweet run. It felt so fast - which is wierd since usually the fastest runs feel the slowest, and the runs that feel fast are slower than you think.
• Crossed the finish line and saw the #1 on the board and started screaming.
• My time: 51.90!
  
• I cried.
  
• Literally, cried. And screamed, and had to sit down. 79.3 miles per hour!

Some pics from the day.....


L, myself, and S on the podium. :)


Brad, N, & M on the podium. :)


The Development Team(s), in our new matching jackets. Grin.


Turn 12, how you want to be:


Turn 12, how you DON'T want to be: