I will not be throwing myself a pity party but the season is halfway over and I feel like I am just barely finding my stride. At some point in the near or hopefully not too distant future I know I will find my stride again look back on this string of past few disappointing races as good “character building”. 

I have had some ups and downs this season and as frustrating as ski racing can be I still find that before each training or race run I still have a sense of excitement and belief that this run will be the “one” to really turn things around. There have been glimpses and a run or two that have been really great; it is just getting the consistency back that has been the biggest challenge for me. I guess it turns out that getting in a lot of gate training in the prep period might actually help your skiing! I’ll have to remember that for next summer, hopefully this coming summer I will be healthy and can get in some serious gate bashing.

One of the bright spots in the past couple weeks is that I was third at a Europa Cup Downhill in St. Moritz. I even won a bit of prize money and was really looking forward to spending some of it shopping in St. Moritz. Just to give you an idea of the type of stores that are in St. Moritz; they all make the stores in Aspen all look like jazzed up K-Marts.  With my prize money I could maybe afford a key chain, or some socks. Unfortunately I did not find a key chain or any socks that suit my style. So disappointing. It also snowed a ton during the Europa Cups so the rest of the Europa Cup team and I were able to go shred some powder which was nearly as fun as getting on the podium again.

We are now headed to Garmisch for more races this weekend. I have had some success there before so I am feeling good about the races ahead.  After Garmisch we are getting a short break before heading to Russia and Bulgaria. I am currently trying to find a place to escape to for a few days but have not nailed anything down yet. I enjoy public transportation over here because it is much less stressful than actually trying to compete with European drivers to see who can drive more sketchily, so I might just hop a train or bus and see where I end up. Hopefully after that adventure I will have a bit more to report.

Till then…

Alice McKennis is a member of the U.S. Alpine Ski Team from Glenwood Springs, Colo. She was named to the 2010 U.S. Olympic Team and, at 21, has become a regular on the World Cup Tour with five top-15 finishes to her name. McKennis was also the 2009 NorAm Cup downhill and super G overall champion.