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My second day of skeleton was really awesome. I woke up pumped and ready for another session. My first four runs I got 99.72, 99.58, 98.99, 99.42 km/hr. Frustrating. That 98.99 km/hr run was when my coach pushed me straight into the wall at the very top. I heard him yell ‘OH NO!!’ as I disappeared around the first corner. I recovered from the bump though, luckily. Sometimes in skeleton you hit an edge near the beginning of the run and end up bashing back and forth the whole way down. They usually get a speed in the 80’s or low 90’s at the speed trap. Luckily I have not had a run like that yet!

Anyway after the fourth run we were told that the next one would be our last. I told myself ‘OK Katrina, you really need to focus and have a perfect run’. The run right before that I thought was pretty good too but I still didn’t get that 100 km/hr that I wanted. I got the other people to help smooth down the back of my sweater, tuck my gloves into my sleeves and I smoothed down my tights on my legs. Coach Ivo gave me a slightly bigger push than before. He really wanted to see me get 100 km/hr too but often giving a bigger push at our level means less control on the way down and a slower speed and time. I relaxed as fully as I could and concentrated on keeping my chin out and my shoulders down and my toes pointed and I made sure to lean into the one corner I sometimes bumped on the way down.

It felt like an awesome smooth run and when they announced my speed at the bottom we all cheered. I was so happy!! 100.60 km/hr and a finish time of less than 30 seconds. A perfect way to end the session.

Dang Brian beat me by 0.09 s on my perfect run, so I actually still only came in second. Achieving my personal goal feels really really good though.

That’s the view from the finishing area. When we do skeleton we only get about half way up and then the crew helps pick up your sled and pass it to you.

Later that day Dylan, Brian and I also got a chance to do a bobsled run! Sometimes you really do just need to ask. Tourists pay a lot of money to do one bobsled run but we got to do it for free. Woohoo.

Bobsled was freaking bumpy. My head bounced around all over the place and I couldn’t even hold it up in the last corner. So much force. It was just like a really rough rollercoaster. I like skeleton better.

I don’t have any pictures of me doing bobsled because I went at a different time than Dylan and Brian. But I tried to take pictures for them…. and failed. That is the best picture I got, and that’s with Rosemarie’s camera! They were going about 125 km/hr.

Dylan and Brian after bobsled. The guy on the far left is the one that took me down as well. I guess he’s always trying to get more track hours so he has room to take other sliding association members down before and after tourist sessions.


Oh and here is a creepy picture of me in a hotel robe playing Settlers in between hot tub sessions. What a life.

I sure wish I was going again this weekend. Instead I’m going to be studying… a lot! We have three midterms next week again. Then holy cow it’s already March Break. Insane. We have to put in our top three choices for hospital placements this week and soon that will be decided as well. First year… coming along!

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I had a really awesome weekend. I said that already.

We all met at Rosemarie’s house. She fed us homemade sushi. It was snowing a bit so we were a little concerned about the drive up to Whistler, but it ended up being totally fine, we just drove a little slower than usual. We arrived at our first hotel and were pleasantly surprised at the size of the room, and the free extra parking spot. We ate and drank and played Wits and Wagers. An excellent way to get to know new people! Rosemarie was the only one who had met everyone else before.

I can’t even remember who won. Doesn’t matter, it was fun!

Next morning was a bit frantic. The Facebook page had said that our skeleton session was from 9:00 AM to 10:30 AM. At 8:30 AM I got a text from the organizer saying ‘WHERE ARE YOUUUUU’ and ‘YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO BE HERE AN HOUR EARLY!’ which was pretty annoying. I don’t know how we were supposed to know that. Also the session was actually until 11:00 AM. Anyway we rushed rushed rushed and got up to the sliding centre where we quickly filled out paperwork, grabbed our helmets and sleds, and got driven up to the start.

I don’t have any pictures of the actual skeleton session this time because Tink was taking about 9 million pictures of each of us, so I left it up to her. Hopefully she posts some soon!!


I didn’t do my best on the first day, but I still had lots of fun. My speeds were between 98.40 km/hr and 99.42 km/hr. I REALLY wanted to get more than 100 km/hr but it didn’t happen that day. We swapped sleds around a lot to try them out. Each sled is really quite different than the next, in responsiveness and weight etc etc. Actually I placed first in that 98.40 km/hr run so I’m not sure what was happening there.

Brian (Scott’s friend!) did awesome both days of sliding. He’s a natural! The coach really liked him a lot. Brian had many runs over 100 km/hr. He is now addicted, which is good, because this ‘club’ really needs all the members it can get.

After skeleton I went snowboarding. The conditions were great (TONS O’ POWDER) but I suck at snowboarding. Really I have been snowboarding since middle school and I have not improved much. I found it extremely tiring and actually not that much fun. I am seriously considering switching back to skiing or snowblading because I miss being able to explore more of a mountain. Plus at the moment I don’t have a snowboard or boots so it’s a pretty good time to switch.


Anyway I did a few runs with Rob and then one really long one with David, and then the day was over. We moved into our next hotel (Westin!!) and spent many hours in the hot tub, playing Settlers, and eating dinner. Then back to the hot tub. Good times!

OK I’m going to leave day 2 for another entry.

Scott is home! He is sleeping on the couch. He made tea, put on a tv show, then fell asleep. I turned off the show because I was doing school work, then he woke up, drank some tea, turned the TV on again, and he is now asleep. Yeesh.

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I still don’t have the time/energy to post about the weekend yet, but here is a picture I took on the way home from Whistler on Sunday. I made Brian stop the car and I ran out along the side of the highway and snapped this picture. BC is really beautiful.

In other news, Scott arrives home tomorrow!

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Day 1 of solitude hasn’t been so bad.

Scott actually didn’t have to leave until around 11 AM so we had a lazy morning together. We ate sushi leftovers and played NHL 12 on the Playstation. I got the game for a present for Scott through some special connections at school. I knew he wanted it and the price was right so I got it. Actually it was pretty fun playing it against each other this morning, but maybe only because we were both equally bad at it. Once he gets good I probably won’t want to play any. But anyway, the commentators were funny and the graphics are pretty cool. And I (Sens) beat him (Canucks) 2-1. YEAH.

Yesterday was lots of fun. My aunt and uncle came over for dinner. Rosemarie and Scott did most of the cooking, which was nice. Rosemarie made pork dumplings, and I chopped up the vegetables and fish for sushi. Scott made white chocolate raspberry mini cheesecakes. Then Rosemarie rolled all the sushi and then I dropped it on the floor. We ate it anyway. Take a look at our feast!


We had lots of leftovers. Fine by me!!

After dinner we played two games of Settlers. I love Settlers. What a great game. I wish we were rich so I could buy THIS. Only $489.95! (and that one doesn’t even come with a trunk. yeesh)

Anyway I finished two lab reports today, which is good. I’ve still got three assignments and studying to do tomorrow. And grocery shopping. Blech.

I hope I sleep better tonight, I’ve had two very bad insomnia nights in a row. :(

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Oops at not posting very much this week. I’ve been really busy with school. Midterms have started. I had anatomy yesterday, and physics today. ONLY 21 more midterms to go. :/

from physicians.fraserhealth.ca/

We have been doing some fun things too though. Yesterday afternoon I had my first hospital visit. Gillian, Lesley and I went to tour the outpatient nuclear medicine unit in Surrey. They split the three of us up and we each followed a technologist who was doing their regular work. I saw a few bone scans and heart scans, and a couple others. I got to ask lots of questions, listen to all the things the technologists say to the patients, and see how they position the patients and the cameras and things. It was really neat. I even had to call in the next patient and ask them to use the bathroom and help them get out after the scan was done.

That department is soooooooooo nice. Everything is brand new and clean and fast. They can do a CT scan in 13 seconds! I would consider doing one of my clinical placements there just because it is so modern and nice there, and all the people were really friendly and treated us students well.

from sellesmedical.co.uk

Then today in nursing class we learned about vitals. We learned how to take blood pressure the old fashioned way! I did not get it all the first time: I opened the valve too fast so the cuff deflated really fast, and all I could hear in the stethoscope was my fingers moving around. But then the second time I heard what I was supposed to hear. I’d say I was within ±10. More practice needed next week.

My blood pressure was quite low, but my heart was beating fast. I think I was a bit stressed out again about the morning’s midterm. Plus a little more exercise probably wouldn’t hurt.

So happy that it’s the weekend. Unfortunately I have three difficult midterms next week so I’m probably going to spend the whole weekend studying. It would be nice to get out to try a hot chocolate from the Hot Chocolate Festival before it ends though! I have my eye on a salted caramel hot chocolate, or a  hazelnut hot chocolate (hopefully Scott will also want to try one of those so I can taste both) from Thomas Haas, but it’s all the way in Kitsilano so we’ll see.