A lot of people ask what we do during the summer to train as bobsledders. Apart from the required video game playing (it's for hand-eye coordination...cough cough) and the standard trips to high school tracks for sprints and drills, plus the gym for weight training, we also have a push-track set up in Park City. The push track is basically a bobsled on wheels that runs down a small hill on rails.
Here's an example of us doing some push training from last week. It was a warm-up run so it wasn't our full-speed, but it does give you an idea of what we do.
That's me up front on the left, Brad right behind me, Don on the right, and Lane on the brakes.
Enjoy!
Monday, September 22, 2008
Thursday, September 11, 2008
9/11: Let us remember today and never forget tomorrow
Seven years ago today I was sitting on a tropical island off of the coast of Belize called Ambergris Caye. It is a beautiful place full of crystal clear water, white sandy beaches, palm trees, resorts, restaurants, gift shops, dirt streets, and bakeries that left your mouth watering whenever you walked past them.
I was finishing up the last year of my two-year commitment as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, an experience that I will cherish for the rest of my life. But of all the experiences I had during those two years, this is one that is burned with unbelievable clarity into my mind.
The missionary I was serving with at the time pounded on the door to the bathroom and shouted that someone has just bombed the Statue of Liberty! The thought took a moment to register and I quickly got out of the shower, dressed, and we rushed to a friend's house who we knew had a TV.
We got there just in time to see video of a plane crashing into some building which I later learned was one of the Twin Towers. My first thought was, "Wow, that looks like an interesting new movie! Great special effects!" But as I sat there waiting to learn the movie's title and the TV kept showing more and more images of the towers on fire, of firefighters all over "Ground Zero" and of citizens running through the streets, it finally hit me...it wasn't a movie.
It was a nightmare.
My missionary companion and I both collapsed onto the couch and just stared. No one said anything for quite some time. We just watched in horror as the buildings burned and chaos ensued in front of the cameras. Stunned commentators did their best to voice-over the video feeds, but the hesitancy and fear in their voice was obvious to all. We felt it too.
Since I was in Central America our feed was coming through Mexico which means that a lot of what was edited out here in the United States was left on TV for us. We almost cheered when hundreds of people were seen exiting the burning towers. And then we watched with gut-wrenching horror as some poor souls, seeing no other option for escape, leaped from the burning buildings, hundreds of feet above the cameras.
The first and then the second tower collapsed, sending millions of tons of debris crashing down onto the street below. Camera crews raced for their lives away from the debris field, sending shaky images of dust covered survivors to our screen as they too ran as fast as they could.
Over the next few days we would learn that it was a deliberate attack by evil men. I say evil because it would take either a lack of sanity, a lack of humanity, or a lack of goodness to do something so awful, so terrible, so unbelievably dark. I call them evil, but I also call them cowards. It is easy to do something like that when you know you'll be dead and won't have to face the consequences.
But we also saw unforgettable acts of humanity and compassion and courage. We witnessed firefighters who rushed into a burning building, not knowing if they would return, all out of courageous desire to find survivors, get them out of the building, administer medical attention, and let the scared know that "every thing is going to be alright."
We saw medical crews and police officers who ran BACK towards the downed buildings to begin searching immediately for survivors. We witnessed churches around the country fill up with people and prayers. We saw organizations and groups from around the world assemble to raise money and supplies for the survivors, their families, and to support the rescue effort that went on and on while the world held its breath in hopeful anticipation that somewhere, somehow, someone would have survived the buildings' fall.
But most of all, we saw the world come together. We saw old, and new, allies rush to support and aid the wounded United States. We saw emails, websites, TV reports, news articles, blogs, etc all denouncing the evil acts that had been committed. Out of the terrible destruction of that day, arose some of humanity's finest hours.
It is my hope that as we move on, some still healing, some still searching, but all of us unable to forget, that we will build on the steps forged through the hardships and pain of those dark days. 9/11 may be seven years in the past, but the lessons we learned from those days should forever be in the present.
God bless America.
I was finishing up the last year of my two-year commitment as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, an experience that I will cherish for the rest of my life. But of all the experiences I had during those two years, this is one that is burned with unbelievable clarity into my mind.
The missionary I was serving with at the time pounded on the door to the bathroom and shouted that someone has just bombed the Statue of Liberty! The thought took a moment to register and I quickly got out of the shower, dressed, and we rushed to a friend's house who we knew had a TV.
We got there just in time to see video of a plane crashing into some building which I later learned was one of the Twin Towers. My first thought was, "Wow, that looks like an interesting new movie! Great special effects!" But as I sat there waiting to learn the movie's title and the TV kept showing more and more images of the towers on fire, of firefighters all over "Ground Zero" and of citizens running through the streets, it finally hit me...it wasn't a movie.
It was a nightmare.
My missionary companion and I both collapsed onto the couch and just stared. No one said anything for quite some time. We just watched in horror as the buildings burned and chaos ensued in front of the cameras. Stunned commentators did their best to voice-over the video feeds, but the hesitancy and fear in their voice was obvious to all. We felt it too.
Since I was in Central America our feed was coming through Mexico which means that a lot of what was edited out here in the United States was left on TV for us. We almost cheered when hundreds of people were seen exiting the burning towers. And then we watched with gut-wrenching horror as some poor souls, seeing no other option for escape, leaped from the burning buildings, hundreds of feet above the cameras.
The first and then the second tower collapsed, sending millions of tons of debris crashing down onto the street below. Camera crews raced for their lives away from the debris field, sending shaky images of dust covered survivors to our screen as they too ran as fast as they could.
Over the next few days we would learn that it was a deliberate attack by evil men. I say evil because it would take either a lack of sanity, a lack of humanity, or a lack of goodness to do something so awful, so terrible, so unbelievably dark. I call them evil, but I also call them cowards. It is easy to do something like that when you know you'll be dead and won't have to face the consequences.
But we also saw unforgettable acts of humanity and compassion and courage. We witnessed firefighters who rushed into a burning building, not knowing if they would return, all out of courageous desire to find survivors, get them out of the building, administer medical attention, and let the scared know that "every thing is going to be alright."
We saw medical crews and police officers who ran BACK towards the downed buildings to begin searching immediately for survivors. We witnessed churches around the country fill up with people and prayers. We saw organizations and groups from around the world assemble to raise money and supplies for the survivors, their families, and to support the rescue effort that went on and on while the world held its breath in hopeful anticipation that somewhere, somehow, someone would have survived the buildings' fall.
But most of all, we saw the world come together. We saw old, and new, allies rush to support and aid the wounded United States. We saw emails, websites, TV reports, news articles, blogs, etc all denouncing the evil acts that had been committed. Out of the terrible destruction of that day, arose some of humanity's finest hours.
It is my hope that as we move on, some still healing, some still searching, but all of us unable to forget, that we will build on the steps forged through the hardships and pain of those dark days. 9/11 may be seven years in the past, but the lessons we learned from those days should forever be in the present.
God bless America.
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Sport Photography Photo Shoot
Recently our team captain, Jeremy Holm, was involved in a photo shoot with the talented Utah-based photographer Stephanie Hutto. Hutto is a renowned photographer who specializes in wedding, portrait, fashion, architecture, commercial, event, and landscape photography.
The shoot occurred around some beautiful office buildings located near the mouth of Little Cottonwood Canyon in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Under Stephanie's careful eye, Jeremy let out his inner-Zoolander and the shots turned out pretty darn cool. But as Jeremy says, "It was all in the camera and the skill of Stephanie."
Hope you enjoy the photos!
The shoot occurred around some beautiful office buildings located near the mouth of Little Cottonwood Canyon in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Under Stephanie's careful eye, Jeremy let out his inner-Zoolander and the shots turned out pretty darn cool. But as Jeremy says, "It was all in the camera and the skill of Stephanie."
Hope you enjoy the photos!
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