Hello Goodbye

Goodbye Ottawa,

I have lived in the Ottawa/Gatineau region for the past 8 years of my life--and what amazing years they were. At first, I missed my friends in North Bay Ontario, but then I joined Nakkertok ski club, I studied at two universities, I completed my great 8 Piano, I got to work at Fresh Air Experience Ottawa, I got injured snowboarding and I became intimately familier with the terrain of the area as I ran, biked and skied all over it. Most important out of all my experiences, though, were the interactions I had with the people of the region.

You guys welcomed me into the community and have supported me like family as I grew as a skier and as an individual. Now, as I make the transition to life at the Alberta World Cup Academy in Canmore, I can say that without your help I would never have been able to take this new step in the pursuit of my athletic dreams. I am missing and am going to continue to miss all of you until I am back in Ottawa again. In the mean time, rock on.

Hello Canmore,

I gotta say, I really didn't think I had a chance of making it here after I came up with a preliminary budget, for the season, in April. But it looks like I've made it--at least, that's what I'm guessing based on all the big mountains around me! After just one day in Canmore so far, I'm feeling pretty excited about the upcoming training year (not that I wasn't feeling excited already!), and do I ever have a lot to do between now and my first races in December!

As I embark on year two of my blog I wanna make a commitment to you, my readers. I feel that it will be nice to keep people at home up to date on my adventures, and with all sorts of cool ski training/life experiences coming my way I'll have a lot of cool stuff to write about! With this in mind, it is my goal to update my blog, on Monday, at least every two weeks from now to next April. As always, I'll try to keep stuff interesting (none of that "went skiing for two hours. It was a good workout" or "Today I raced and came 1st. I am happy" type blogging here!), I'll add a new song to the "playlist" page on my blog after each blog post and I'll put up cool pictures! My first blog post will be this Monday and I'll try to detail some of my thought process in deciding to come out here to train, as well as some of the things I've done during my first few days out west. Should be sweet.

To sum up, check back here on Mondays, have a good summer and Dream Big, People!

--Zeke W.

On flows the river of time--and on flows this river in Canmore too!