first race of the season

We ran a slalom race today at Copper Mountain in Colorado as part of the Ski Spectacular disabled ski week.

I took third place behind Sean Rose of Great Britain and surprise winner Josh Dueck of Canada. I suppose Josh wasn't a surprise to anyone who watched him ski last season — he just kept getting better and better, and it was only a matter of time before he "put two together," as we say.

It worries me a little that I was the top American, because I wasn't all that fast despite my podium finish; I was six seconds behind Josh and two behind Sean. I know how fast my teammates Tyler Walker and Chris Devlin-Young have been in training (namely, faster than me), but Tyler had a lackluster day, finishing just behind me, and Chris skied out in the second run after placing second in the morning run. I predict they'll be back in form tomorrow for the giant slalom, an event that I've not felt very good in during recent training.