Hello Again!

I know, I know. Its been a while. Almost a month by my count! Thats the longest I’ve gone without updating since my re-launch this summer. What have I been up to, you ask? Well…

Sometimes you need to take a little break to reconnect with your sport. Now obviously my last post was not on the positive side of things but sport, and life, are obviously like that at times. It is how you drive on, and forge though those bad times that defines you as the person you are. I usually try and do it with as much grace as possible but, I admit, I am still learning.

Anyway, back to reconnecting with the sport. I took some time away from ski racing, (about 3-5 days), and went skiing. Which really sounds absurd, “to reconnect with skiing, I needed to go skiing.” But I guess… well skiing itself is at the core of me. I’ve probably spent nearly as much time on my skis as I have my own two feet and being out there on the mountain, ripping around without having to worry about anything, well it really brings me back.

There was one day where Chelsea and I went to Mad River to shred. It was pounding snow and after a comp she competed in, we debated on leaving. Instead we got on the lift, hiked some trees, found the fall line, and set about the having the most fun either of us have had skiing in a very long time. Her and I teared up that place till closing that day, finding secret stashes and ducking ropes, and at the end of it we were both pretty psyched we had stuck around. 

After that I launched off my lucrative ski modeling career with a few shoots at Killington and Pico. As much fun as that sounds it turns out skiing three turns, stopping, waiting, setting up, three turns, stopping, waiting, setting up, three more turns… is not as awesome as it seems. But the photographers really do make it fun and I did have a blast ripping around getting some epic shots. I haven’t seen them all yet but here is a pretty epic one we got at Killington.

After my racing hiatus I eased my way back into it with a couple slaloms and GS’ here and there. I even won one! Which is nice. Winning races always feels pretty good to be honest. 

Right now however, I type to you from Calgary, Alberta. I have been here for 5 days and I leave tomorrow. I was here for the Nor-Am finals held in Nakiska and the Calgary Olympic Park which is right here in the city.

Nakiska held the GS races which went alright. The discipline is still causing me some troubles currently but I had a few good turns. And that view!!! Well that view was second to none this week. (Courtesy of Robby Kelley) 

Moving onto the slaloms at the Calgary Olympic Park. It was pretty interesting having a city event but pretty awesome. The snow was injected, (f-ing hard), and the terrain challenging. (Courtesy of Tim Kelley)

My skiing in the slalom was much better. Still not as great as I would have liked but hey! Thats just the way an athlete thinks. Here is some vid so you can judge for yourself.

Nor-Am Finals SL, COP, Day 1 from Tucker Marshall on Vimeo.

Nor-Am Finals, COP, Day 2 from Tucker Marshall on Vimeo.

Not too, too shabby. Anyway, I will be writing of my future plans in my next post. (It is 11PM and I have to get up at 3:30AM to catch a flight back east, so I must be getting to bed.) It is not all good news I have to share but there is always a silver lining. More on that soon. Until then, stay classy my friends!

Tucker