Oh my gosh...it's not a Backstreet Boy's picture!!! BUT if you look real close, the Backstreet Boys logo can be seen on my pants. :) So this picture kinda sums up the good part of the weekend. (Getting second in the boom run) For those of you who didn't know, I spent last weekend in Lake Placid, NY competing in the ESPN Great Outdoor Games. It will air on ESPN the last weekend in July. When I get details on when logrolling and the boom run will be on, I will post it.
So I arrived Wednesday night, went to the boom run meeting, had a yummy dinner (diet was ditched for 2 days) and went to bed. I was SO incredibly nervous that I was going to bomb the whole weekend. So on Thursday I went to breakfast. I ate with some of the ESPN crew since nobody was really up yet. I practiced the boom run with the other girls during our scheduled practice time. I didn't fall in once! I won my first race against Crystal Salzman, which left me in complete shock. I wasn't going to go home poor!!! My next race was with Taylor Duffy. Now this girl is unbeatable. How I beat her (by like a tenth of a second) is beyond me. Then I had to race Mandy Erdman in the finals (for first and second). Now, this girl weighs all of 80 pounds (I'm being sarcastic here...Mandy does weigh more than that, and she is an incredible athlete) so she can pretty much skim across the boom without a problem. I had no intention of beating her.........and I didn't. When I watched her cross the finish line, I fell in...finally getting wet. While I was in the water, I was laughing too hard to get back on the log. So it took me a while to finish, but I still ended up in second place. TONS of interviews and media attention...it was great! Even my dad got to be in some interviews. Talk about getting a chance to feel special.
So the next day was logrolling. It also happened to be Friday the 13th. Go figure. Anyway, I lost my first match. I could go on with excuses all day, but I do have one really good one. I have never been more nervous for anything in my entire life. When I was out on the log, I just wanted the match to be over and for the cameras to go away. I seriously thought I was going to throw up on camera. (Wouldn't that have been pretty???) I got the first fall, but she took the next two. It was very close....but I guess I gave that match away. It just sucks how ESPN does it. If you lose your first match, you're done. So no chance for me to redeem myself of TV this year. I still have Hayward in 2 weeks though.
That night we all went out and partied until the wee hours. Actually, I only made it to about midnight. Everybody else stayed out until the wee hours though. :) From what I hear, J.R. had quite the night...hehehee. He also had quite the weekend, taking gold in both of his events. I love logrolling, but I don't think anybody can embrace the sport like J.R. has. Thus he deserves all of the wins he achieves.
The next day my dad and I spent time hiking in the Adirondacks. They sure are beautiful mountains. I'll bet they would have been even more beautiful if it didn't rain all weekend. But it was great to see everything, and spend time with my daddy.
On Sunday my dad and I watched the agility dogs for the rest of the afternoon. Those dogs are SO cool!!! It was so funny, people kept asking me to be in pictures with them. I was a real celebrity that weekend! After the dog stuff, my dad and I headed to the airport and came home. Now I'm back to my normal life of dieting, working, working out, and being normal Shana.
Overall it was a cool weekend. Unfortunately it had to end on the bad note with logrolling, but I was very happy with the boom run outcome. I also got to do a few interviews about Huntington's Disease. One reporter even referred to me as the spokesperson for Huntington's Disease. That was always my goal, maybe it's actually starting to happen.
K, it was a long weekend, and today was a long day of work. I need to get some rest and try to unpack some stuff tomorrow. Goodnight.
PS- Last week I totally typed out a super long entry. But stupid me forgot to hit the "publish" button. Duh.