Heading to Alaska!

I'm currently in the Chicago airport on my way to Alaska for our US Ski Team glacier camp! We will be doing a week of dryland training in Anchorage before heading up to Eagle Glacier for a week of training on snow. My phone is telling me Anchorage looks a little rainy this week, but I'm going to ignore that and keep my fingers crossed that the weather turns around for us. I chose not to go to Alaska the past two summers, but this year I felt I was ready and I'm looking forward to seeing the girls and getting in a lot of good hard training. The past few weeks of training in Vermont have been great, but we've definitely been experiencing the eastern heat and humidity. We're usually soaked by the end of each training session, but luckily we have a lot of swimming holes to cool down in right after working out.

Stratton snowmaking pond

I hopped into my first rollerski speeds last week after injuring my elbow in May. Even though they were only with one pole, I was so happy to be back doing one of my favorite workouts.

Annie H keeping me company by giving the one poled speeds a try

KO and Annie H practicing a start

Jessie and Annie P

I had another x-ray on Monday and was finally cleared to use two poles! It feels great to add my right pole and even though I still have some work to do to get my range of motion and strength back, it's good a start. This also means I can start lifting with my upper body again. It's nice to be back in the gym, but it's been a little discouraging not being able to do some of the basic exercises that used to feel easy. Time to even things out!

One pole skiing has made my left side a little bigger than my right side

It was Ben Saxton's 21st Birthday last weekend, so we had a birthday celebration for him consisting of some of his favorite foods: sloppy joes, maple bacon chips, slaw, corndog muffins, and a caramel corn cake.

Happy Birthday Ben!

Fourth of July weekend flew by, but I was happy to be able to spend it with my friends and family. Parker and Hannah are back east for a couple weeks, so I've been spending a lot of time with them, and we went to the Osgoods' 4th of July party on the evening of the 4th. They hosted a wonderful evening bringing a lot of close family and friends from the Putney area together.

Chris and Mary Osgood

Zach and my Grandma Hep

Always fun to see Parkey T!

My cousin Lucinda, brother Austin, cousin Paddy, and me with Peter Graves and Grandpa on the 4th

Time to go catch my flight, but the next update will be from Alaska!

Coach Patrick showing off our new summer tanks courtesy of the T2 Foundation

Leroy cooling off with some coconut gelato

That's the sign of a good back scratch

Posing with a beautiful pillow with a picture of me skiing in the Olympics made by Laura Megroz

One final beautiful Vermont morning