Change of plans - USA & Lake Placid

After the Winterberg race, things got a little crazy. Instead of driving to St. Moritz, Switzerland with the team, our coach drove me to Frankfurt. We were playing a little switcharoo - send me back to Lake Placid to race the final two Intercontinental Cup races, and bring Katie U over to Europe for the final two World Cup races.

It was a point strategy. I would race the IC in an attempt to simply hold my international ranking over a couple certain other women, while Katie (who was injured first half and thus only had half as much time to earn a world rank) would try to make up the gap on those people in the World Cups. See, a first place on the IC is worth 120 points, while a 1st place on the WC is worth 225 points.

If the strategy worked, we would earn three spots in World Championships and more importantly, three spots on World Cup next year!

So I found myself in Frankfurt, staying at an airport hotel for a night until my morning flight back over the Atlantic. I decided to go out, and found a little Italian restaurant a few minutes walk from the hotel.

I ordered a glass of wine - and had to take a picture. For those of you that know what a lightweight I am, the size of this glass spelled trouble!


My pizza - I saw this on the menu and just had to try it.


Yes, you do see a hot dog and two hard boiled eggs. It was actually delicious!

I called Brad - we upgraded to the iPhone 4 before the season started just for the FaceTime it offered. This is us chatting over Wifi! Love it, and makes the distance a little easier.


Before I knew it, it was the next morning and I was at the Frankfurt airport. With Ronald McDonald. I took a picture to prove it wasn't just a one-glass-of-wine-hangover.


And then, bam! I was on a plane back to Lake Placid, hoping that our strategy and gamble would pay off.