Gate #3

"Park it." This is what teammate and sport psychology master James Cartwright would probably say to me after my second run in the first (of two) International Races here in Tacen, Slovenia.

Sitting in 10th place after my first run, I was primed and ready to attack my second run.

In my visualization prior to my second run, I forgot about gate #3. I skipped by as if it were an insignificant part of the course. Little did I know that this error would effect me so drastically. I was a Gee Gee (first horse out of the gate). I raced down the notorious first drop and through the first two gates here in Tacen perfectly....and then gate #3 happened. I was a bit too excited and neglected the precision and patience that this part of the course required. After catching an edge and nearly flipping and missing the gate (which would have earned me a 50 second penalty), I realized my mistake. Now, this is the point where James would have said to me, "Park it". Instead, I hurried. I turned on the afterburners and raced down the rest of the course. In the path of this hurricane named John, I incurred two penalties (an additional 4 seconds to my overall time). In a sport where you must be the fastest, having four seconds added to your time is very bad. Although my running times on both runs were the same, the four seconds in penalties proved costly as it resulted in my slipping into 14th place.

Needless to say, the lesson has been learned....never overlook anything when visualizing.

Now, I am happy to say that I have "Parked" today's blunders, and am looking forward to tomorrows race.