Hello!

 Long time since I've blogged, but I felt like I needed time to readjust to my normal life, get caught up on school and spend some much needed time with friends and family. 

It was refreshing and really reminded me that I can't always be "athlete Grace." Sometimes I need to step outside of that and just spend time with people who know me outside of sliding, outside of a sport environment. Don't get me wrong, this season was incredible, but I'm still processing it all and it is quite overwhelming.  

It feels like a lifetime ago that I was competing in my first Canadian Champs, the day I found out I would be racing NAC, the day I slid from the top in Whistler and the day I won my first race. I was a different person in November, this season changed me for the better, in and out of sliding. 

I learned a lot about myself, my teammates and the sport of skeleton. I had experiences I never thought I would have, and managed to have a ton of fun. 

I worked hard last off season, and I plan to work even harder this year to get better.  I have a taste of what I could achieve, so now to work harder for what I feel like I can achieve in the future

Honestly, I'm feeling a lot of pressure to be better. As I've said, it is never pressure from the outside, it is simply pressure from inside to be better, reach my true potential. 

This is a lot different than what I felt last year. I went in expecting nothing at testing, selections and the whole season. It was all a big surprise. I'm fairly humble.... I don't always come off that way on my blog, but I am. So to suddenly have a lot of attention as to my accomplishments and season has been overwhelming, something I'm not used to. I'm still me, just maybe with a bit more success.

I'll never forget my first year when I crashed in every single Alberta Skeleton Cup. The years I pushed over 6.00s every time and felt embarrassed about that, the year I honestly questioned why I was still doing this when I wasn't seeing results. 

I'm not afraid to admit my fear and doubt in those moments and the fear and doubt I've experienced recently as to all those "what ifs" about the upcoming season. The only response that I have is that I will get back up and keep going. Just like I have before. No matter what. 

I was lucky enough to see Marnie McBean speak at my university this week. She preached her own fear and doubt before winning olympic medals and how she goes about mentoring athletes leading up to the Olympics. This cemented that this is a normal feeling as you get more successful, so I am thankful that her words came at the exact right time in my life. 

Funny how things like that happen. 

Stay Humble. Stay Hungry.