The Wright's Tuff... and So Is Her Little Brother

Last night I got a call from my mom in the ER: my brother crashed hard on his snowboard. Paul is a very good snowboarder: he’s 14, he can do all sorts of tricks, and he goes to the mountain with his friends at least a few times per week. Apparently conditions were superb with all the new snow, but not superb enough to stop him from hitting a rock and wiping out: “A small rock,” he said, “that did some heavy damage.”

He broke both bones in his left arm, and they were poking out of his skin, so they’re keeping him in the hospital for a few days, citing the risk of dangerous bone infection. He had surgery this morning to put some plates and screws in his arm. I think he’s being very brave and I wish I could be there with him!

Ouch.

East Coast Girl Can't Handle Her Sunshine

It happens without fail every spring: I come to Chula Vista, and I get really sunburned on the first hot sunny day. Like clockwork. I should know better. This year, it was a classic case of, “It’s only 9:30am, I won’t really need any sunscreen.” You’d think I’d have learned by now that southern California sunshine doesn’t play by upstate New York’s rules. Speaking of Upstate New York’s rules, apparently it snowed upwards of 10 inches last night there?? I’m jealous, though it’s hard to maintain jealousy while paddling in your bikini.

Radio Interview

Gately and Julie of the morning show on 100.5 The Drive (in Rochester) interviewed me on Monday morning. I’m not sure when it will be aired on the radio, but you can listen to the interview below!

Recovery Week

This week is easy week, and it has come as a godsend for most of us: the lighter training load is making us all feel much more rested. We’ve done quality team boat work every day, and it’s all been pretty swell.

Yesterday I sneezed a few more times than usual, and like any athlete would understand, I went nutso at the mere thought of getting sick. I went to Walgreens and stocked up on zinc lozenges and airborne and I’ve been working hard at warding it off all day today.

My mom says it is cold and snowy back home in Rochester, and I do miss the chilly weather. Sometimes I wear my ski hat around the training center and pretend I’m in Lake Placid, but the palm trees and balmy breeze don’t do much as far as creating the mood. Oh well.

A Snowman?? In California!?

Friday mornings are track workouts. Today was a bit nippier than usual, and we found a thick layer of frost on the pole vault mat. Naturally, we beach bum blonde-haired warm-weather paddlers went wild with a short-lived snowball fight and, (drumroll please) the formation of “Slushie,” a little snowman who dutifully watched us suffer through all 6 sets of 800s.

Maggie is VERY excited to have a little snow buddy

California

I’ve arrived in sunny Chula Vista California! A bit sad to leave Georgia this morning, but it’s such a relief to finally be here. The next two months will be a whole lot of hard work and I’m excited to get started.

Hilarious.

Helen

After the morning’s formidable workouts, we Northerners (“The imports”) decided to do some exploring. We drove to Anna Ruby Falls in the Unicoi State Park and walked up to the falls. It reminded me a little of Ithaca.



The website says that double falls like these are “rare.” I bet a car with Nova Scotia plates in the middle of the forest in Georgia in February is pretty rare, too.

Trista and Laura: adventurous Canadian renegades

After we’d had our fill of the waterfalls, we made our way to Helen, Germany.... I mean Helen, Georgia.

If you’re not familiar with Helen, it’s a touristy “Bavarian” town, complete with carriages, lederhosen, and yodeling. We even ate schnitzel for dinner! Our waitress was from Munich, and she must have been legit because she had to look up the english word for “cabbage.”

Helen was also well-equipped with candy shops (incidentally, Hansel and Gretel’s!) of which we took full advantage.


Well, as they say in Bavaria... Auf Weidersehen!



They also say, “Danke schoen for the pictures, Mike.”

I Have the Best Hometown EVER!

Here is the link to Scott Pitoniak's excellent article that was published in Tuesday February 5th's Democrat and Chronicle newspaper.

I would also just like to express my thanks and gratitude to everyone who has sent me emails after Scott's article. It means SO much to have hometown support. (And I happen to think I have the BEST hometown in the world!) Your encouragement puts a smile on my face, makes it easier to be away from home, and kicks up the motivation factor as well.

Thank you everyone!!

Cake Night

Here in Georgia, I'm staying with Rich Stewart (canoeist) who lives with his older brother Tyler and Tyler's girlfriend, Jiffy. Today is Jiffy's 23rd birthday, and she happens to be the biggest sweetheart in the whole world. And I firmly believe that everyone deserves a cake on his/her birthday.

So there was only one thing to do: Rich and I made her a mocha cake! It was quite the labor of love. I called my parents 4 or 5 times in the process to get the recipe right. (I have a bit of a reputation for cooking disasters.) It was funny because my mom was all the way up on top of Bristol Mountain (literally in a cloud, she told me, it was so foggy) watching my little sister Anna race, and I had her reciting the ingredients to me over the phone while I was perusing the local grocery store trying to decide which buttermilk to buy.

After a fairly long/intensive day of workouts, it was fun to come back home to rainbow sprinkles, licking spatulas, lighting candles, and surprising Jiffy for her birthday. It also brought back fond memories of baking as kids with our mothers and grandmothers.

Writing legibly in frosting: no small task!

Man I'm good.

I Looooove Me Some Internet

...How’d I do? Do I sound southern yet?

Sundays are off-days; consequently, I treat them as the perfect opportunity for day-trips or all the fun stuff I wanted to do during the week.

(Somehow, ‘all the fun stuff I wanted to do during the week’ always turns into ‘laundry-errands-cleaning-and-a-mountain-of-schoolwork.’ Weird.)

Actually I’m kind of enjoying catching up on the busywork. I am excited because I found internet at Atlanta Bread. Now I’m camped out here, currently procrastinating on starting my homework by updating this blog with this entry about how I’m procrastinating on my homework. Life is good.

Some Press

Craig Potter of Messenger Post Newspapers (the Fairport-East Rochester Post) published this article in last week’s paper.

I was also featured in the Canandaguia Post’s Cheers Section, which can be found here.

Lastly, Scott Pitoniak will publish a column in Tuesday or Wednesday’s Democrat and Chronicle, and I’ll post the link when he does.