Well folks it is the month of November, which means I am off traveling on the World Cup Circuit! My first stop this year was to Berlin, Germany. One of the things that I am always excited for whenever I travel is getting to see "my" girls....aka my Canadian girls. As most of you know I spent 7 years training with our neighbors to the North. As a result of my time spent up there I have been blessed with the ability to speak English with a Canadian accent. But an even greater bennie is the fact that I have an amazing group of friends that I get to meet up with in random cities across the world. (aka living the dream!)Clara Hughes and I had been emailing back and forth before we left for Europe and she threw out to me..."hey we are skating laps on Sunday do you want to jump in?" Not knowing what Coach Parra would have in store for me I of course replied..."giddy up I'm there!" Thankfully Derek knows how much I miss and love skating with my girls. He was all in for me skating with them because as he said, "I just want you to have fun out there so go and skate with them." (How great is this coach!) So on the Sunday before the World Cup I met up with my old training partners to do the traditional post flight, full of jet leg workout of 4 x 10 laps.
I won't lie I was ridiculously excited about this workout. In fact I had already been talking about it for over a week about this lap day. It may sound silly, why get so excited about skating laps with a bunch of Canadians? Leading into the workout I was just excited to be able to skate with girls (as I pretty much am always chasing after boys), and then I thought it'll give me a good idea of if I am really fit for the season. But, I don't think I was able to fully answer that question for myself until I was in the middle of the workout with them. It was during one of breaks I realized I had to enjoy every minute of this workout because to be honest the odds of this happening again are extremely slim. You see most of us are all coming to the end of our careers. After this next Olympics many skaters will be retiring. Clara Hughes, one of my former teammates, mentor, and dear friend, will be retiring at the end of these next Olympics. Kristina Groves and I trained together for the full seven years that I lived in Calgary, and there is a good chance that she too will be retiring after these next Games. And as for myself...the end is coming soon (you all know I like to keep you guessing!)
For years Clara, Kristian, and I trained together. We suffered in workouts, cried in disappointments, and celebrated our successes. But soon this is all coming to an end as we move into new adventures in our lives that lay ahead of us. So yeah, this Sunday wasn't the same as any other post flight jet legged filled 4 x 10 lap day....it was realistically one of the last times that I was going to be able to skate with my friends, teammates, and respected competitors. I smiled and enjoyed every minute of those laps! (Just ask Derek for confirmation!)
Clara and I doing what we do best...accells...yup that's right two of the slowest twitched humans ever trying to go really really fast!
An incredible pack of skaters, Nicole Garrido, Kristina Groves, myself, Justine L'Heureux, Clara Hughes.
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