Let the Games begin!

Well lots has happened since my last posting. I thought I would take some time off of the internet to focus on my up coming race. We finished off our training camp in Mt Washington and on Feb 8th flew back to Vancouver. At the airport we got our accreditation and made our way to the Vancouver village. There we got all our awesome  Canadian gear. This was such an amazing moment, it made everything so real. I now have Canada written all over my back, arms and legs, no matter where I go for the next two weeks people will know which country I am from and who I get the privilege to represent. From there we took a 2hr bus ride up to the Whistler Village (and not to put down Vancouver, but our village is way sweeter!) Once checked in we got a little tour of our home away from home. We are in the far top corner of the village and have a moose to watch over us! His name is Slider (I tried to get him called Bow Winkle) it is a bit of a trek to the dinning hall (7min) so they have gotten us sweet motorized bikes! 

Since we were racing the next day none of the biathletes went to the opening ceremonies. But we got our own little march through Whistler which was great. A lot of people came out to cheer and it was such an up lifting experience. After that we did a little hello in the Canada Olympic House and then made our way back to the village to rest up for the next days race. 

Now on to the exciting stuff. Yesterday was the women’s 7.5km sprint. Leading into this race I had done some really good prep, in our intensity sessions I felt strong skiing and I was confident in my shooting. I was bib #22, the first Canadian! During zero I heard my family and friends cheering for me so I knew where they would be watching from. It was raining but  they had salted the track so if you knew which line to take you could find a mostly hard track. I started off the race feeling pretty good, the crowd was so loud and helped fuel me around the course. I came into my prone shooting, saying my cue words in my head, fired off my 5 shots and hit them all. Back out on course my legs were feeling pretty heavy and I didn’t have much snap, but I just tried to push through the pain. I came into my standing, set up and hit, hit, hit, hit, hit! Awesome, 10/10! What a great way to start off my Olympic races! But my legs were just not feeling it and I could feel my self slowing down. I crossed the finish line in 16th, but that doesn’t mean much when only 22 people had finished. I ended up 72nd. It’s sort of bitter sweet, on one hand I am so happy with my shooting but on the other hand I didn’t make top 60 which means no Pursuit on tuesday for me. I have come a long way since last year and feel so privileged to even be on the start line, but I have to remember that I missed a lot of training over the past 3 years and I am still working on my fitness!

my dad and me after the race

Now we have four days before the next race on the 18th. The Individual, so more good shooting will be a huge bonus. Today I will take it pretty easy and meet up with my dad and sport psych Jan Derpak. 

Happy Valentines day! 

Go Canada Go,

Also big ups to Jen Heil who got Canada’s first medal! 

Rosanna