Q&A with Annie - Part two

What is your race day routine? Don't spare any details (foods, music, what's on your mind when you slip into the start, how do you deal with nerves, are you thinking when you are racing or just going on instinct and auto pilot)?

My race day routine starts the night before the race. I tune and wax my skis, and I always make sure I have my ski bag packed and everything that I need for the next day organized and ready to go. This means I have less to worry about when I wake up early in the morning, and it ensures that I don’t forget necessities like my wallet, ski boots, etc. (these are things that have often been forgotten by racers and are pretty important!). In the morning on the way to the race or in the lodge before we go out, I eat breakfast, usually oatmeal or a muffin, and drink lots of fluids. When I inspect the course, I don’t necessarily memorize every single turn, but I visualize the line I plan to ski between the gates, and I visualize myself skiing the course. Later, when I am at the start getting ready for my run, I visualize myself once more, and I picture myself skiing any tricky spots in the course. I like to listen to music when I inspect the course and when I am hanging out in the lodge before my run. It can be any type of music, usually I just listen to whatever plays on shuffle on my ipod. The music helps me relax. To try to master my nerves, I just remind myself that the result doesn’t matter. My goal before each run is to ski as aggressively as possible without sacrificing my line between the gates. As long as I have skied as fast as I could have in the course, I am generally satisfied, even if I ended up falling or making mistakes in my run. Before my run I like to get really warmed up and stretched out. I run in place and swing my arms and legs to get them warmed up and loose. In the start I just remind myself to go for it and “leave it all on the hill.” It is hard to say what I think about in the course because looking back, the course is always kind of a blur. I try to keep myself pumped up and aggressive, but my subconscious brain takes over the control of my muscles and my skiing.

What role have your parents played in your racing career? Do you think kids from non ski-racing families can be as successful as kids from ski-racer or skier families?

My parents have played a huge role in my ski-racing career. They taught me to ski and fostered my love of the sport. I think the time we put in skiing as a family definitely put me at an advantage over other kids who did not come from skiing families. When I started ski racing my parents took me to all of the races, and we would ski all over the mountain after the race. Since neither parent ski raced, let alone lived near any major ski areas when they were young, they are always enthusiastic about every run they get on skis, and they always try to ski at races. They tease me that they should be going to the ski academy because they appreciate it more than I do. Also, my parents have funded my skiing career, although in recent years I have been contributing a bit. Without them, I would never have been able to start ski racing, let alone attend a ski academy. They have put in a lot of time and effort into the ski club at Suicide Six, so that my sister and I and other kids could race there. Most of all, my parents have been my supporters. They have cheered me on, and they have been the ones to whom I came crying when I was disappointed or upset.

With your busy life on the ski racing tour, do you have a social life? What does your winter social life consist of? Seriously. Do your friends back home get what you're doing?

In the winter, my social life is definitely different, although I spend just as much time with people my age as I do in the off-season. Since we all ski race and have early bedtimes before races and sometimes need days to rest and stay home, ski racers tend to hang out together in the winter. There is a great group of kids at MMWA, and I love spending time with them. Without that team aspect and being surrounded by other people who are doing the same thing, I would not enjoy ski racing as much as I do. I don’t have as much of a social life when I visit home in the winter because I generally like to spend my time resting and doing nothing because I am usually so busy. I generally just visit with my closest friends when I come home. My friends in Woodstock understand my ski career pretty well. Some of my closest friends ski raced for a few years when they were J5s and J6s, so they have gotten a glimpse of the sport. Also, they got an idea of how full the racing schedule is from my freshman year at public school when I missed so much school to attend races. A lot of kids I knew from Suicide Six still race, so I still see some friends from other academies who actually started out at Suicide Six.


How will spend your summer?

This summer I will definitely be working a lot! I try to save up some money for the ski season and to pay for summer ski trips, but what I earn gets used up really fast. I would like to ski this summer. In past years I went out to Whistler in British Columbia and skied on the glacier there. Last year, I went with a group from MMSC to Les Deux Alpes, France. The glacier was huge and the skiing was amazing. That area of France was beautiful, and it was a great experience. This next summer I hope to go back to France or to ski at Mount Hood in Oregon with the MMSC group. Aside from work and skiing, I like to spend the summertime playing tennis, hanging out with my friends, swimming and enjoying the warm weather.