So what a week this has been. The US Open slopestyle is now officially over and let me tell ya how relieved I am. Jon Olson finally won slopestyle! and my friend Anna Siegl won women's slope! ya'll will soon be hearing amazing things about this girl she's wicked good and SOO chill.
I've had an east coast friend staying with me this week and what a trip it's been comparing east v. west. He unfortunately did not advance to semi-finals, but just to come out here is a feat in itself.
As for me... I did a safe run. Didn't throw my harder tricks. Figured it'd be best to throw a smooth run and save my bigger tricks for when I have them more consistent. With that said, I'm still so stoked on 14th place in the women's semi-final (out of 32 alpine women). It's always a pleasure to beat out girls with big Oakley and K2 sponsorships. But really, I'm just happy with my run and happy with how I did. That's all I really wanted from this comp.
But what a head trip leading up to this whole ordeal. Training in the park everyday you can, worrying about what tricks you might have down by then, if you're going to be healthy or not... To say the least, one can suffer a major case of nerves when leading up to their first US Freeskiing Open competition. I am so thankful to have had my rock and confidant with me every step of the way to make sure I keep my cool... Something I did not do at the NZ Open where I fell in each of my runs... twice. It was also amazing to have my family SO supportive of EVERYTHING. Everyone should be so lucky to have a family like this one.... I'm releaved for this competition to be over, but also cannot wait for next year to come so that I can throw down an even better run than this year.
In other events this week... wow! major publicity! First was an interview with NPR (National Public Radio) which aired this week. Then was a live television broadcast with NBC morning news. I cannot believe how great Copper has been to me to not only set that up but also get me a hotel room!! Then yesterday there was an interview with the Rocky Mountain News! again... a major thanks to Copper. It amazes me so much that people are so interested to hear that things I do for my life are anything special. What an honor all of this is... I cherish moments like this week for the rest of my life. Especially this week...
My thoughts and wishes go out to Asher Crank's family and friends. He will be missed greatly, from everyone he knew, and everyone who wished to know him. It is only a reminder of just how quickly all of this can be taken away from us... and so quickly. It is such an unfortunate event and I am incredibly humbled by it.
May we all take this moment to think of a quote by a young child and world hero, Nkosi Johnson... "Do all you can with what you have in the time you have in the place you are."
