2013 in Review: Part 4

Missed the other posts? Check out Part One, Part Two and Part Three.

October

After the excitement of September, October was a little less exciting. I attempted to keep up with running despite the weather getting colder.

But, alas, that was sidelined by a stress fracture in my foot. I ended up spending two months in a boot.

There was a lovely rainbow outside my apartment.

And Julia, Katie and I carved some pumpkins for Halloween!

November

Korey and Ashley moved to the Avenues in Salt Lake City. Their new apartment has some killer views!

The Colts and Texans played, so Julia and I went to Billy Blanco's to cheer for our respective teams. Naturally, the Colts won in a crazy fourth quarter comeback.

Starbucks red cups were released, which always makes me happy.

Another happy seasonal item...Trader Joe's Dark Chocolate Stars! I may or may not have stockpiled these.

11:11 11/11. Made a wish!

A long track speedskating World Cup was held in Salt Lake City at Utah Olympic Oval, so I went down to watch for a day. The USA went 1-2 on this particular event.

Opening day! Park City Mountain Resort opened at the end of November and Katie, Julia and I went out for a few runs to celebrate. 

I went home for Thanksgiving, which means lots of puggle time. 

Home also means lots of games! We played Cranium and Hillary and I had matching answers in Mind Meld. It was kind of wonderful! 

December

I kicked off the month with my first-ever NFL games! Despite being under the weather, I joined my dad and brother for tailgating.

Lucas Oil Stadium!

I worked with the Today Show on a shoot at aerials practice.

A bobsled World Cup came to Park City and I went out to take a few photos.

I continued skiing regularly. We had tons of sun dogs in December for some reason, and I couldn't stop taking pictures of them!

The FIS Nordic Combined Continental Cup came out to Soldier Hollow, which was a great chance to watch some of our B-Team athletes (as well as Olympic Champion Billy Demong) and take some photos!

I had to climb some snowbanks for optimal picture taking position.

I went home for Christmas.

Merry Christmas! We added a few people (and dogs) to our annual Christmas cookie photo. 

Christmas Eve service. 

Olympic Trials came to Park City! Todd Lodwick earned a record-breaking sixth Olympic spot. The weather was amazing all weekend and it was super fun to watch everything! 

Finally, I closed out the year with some New Year's Eve skiing with Julia.

Happy New Year! Can't wait to see what 2014 brings!

Injuries and Olympics

About a week and a half ago, I found out that I have a stress fracture in my foot. That means no more running for 6-8 weeks. Despite my somewhat love-hate relationship with running in the past, I miss it! There's nothing quite like being told you can't do something to make you want to do it!

So, this lovely boot is my latest accessory. I had a follow up appointment this morning and it looks like I'll be wearing it for another 2-4 weeks. At least it'll be ski season by the time I'm out of it!

This weekend, the 2013-14 season kicked off with the first alpine World Cup in Soelden, Austria. The U.S. did pretty well, with Ted Ligety winning for the men and Mikaela Shiffrin claiming a career-best sixth for the women. It's kind of crazy to think that it's already season again! We've been working our butts off all summer at work to prepare for this and it's here!

On a related note, I leave for Russia in 98 days.

I'm so excited to watch these athletes I work with every day compete in Russia! I'm also slightly terrified of all of the crazy things that will inevitable come up between now and then! Part of why I love working in sports so much is the crazy, terrifying lead up to these events. You work insane hours and pour your heart into everything, but it's all worth it. It's so cool to sit there watching athletes walking in during Opening Ceremony knowing that you played a role in getting them there. 

As one of my colleagues recently said at a conference, "We all work for the Olympics. How cool is that?!"

The answer? It's really, really cool.