Welcome to Utah and hello Bliz

This past Sunday I traveled to Utah for the start of a two week camp with the national team. This will be my sixth year coming to Utah for an October training camp and I am very excited be here again! The Utah camp is one of favorite training camps of the whole year, especially since I have moved to the East. It is the last official dryland training camp which means I will be on snow soon also the weather is usually quite nice, it will be cold in the morning when you first start training but by the time your done it is sunny and warm. Out west it is much less humid then it typically is in the East so you don't get as sweaty. Here is Utah I also have more of a sense of training at home then I do in the East, which is just a little more comforting, I am really looking forward to the next two weeks.

Maddie and I on an afternoon run in Utah 

My room in our house in Utah. Even though it is small and has no door there is more privacy then the six person bunk room that started in and then took the mattress from. 

Even though I am excited to be here in Utah I was sad to leave home, as always my time there was to short. After living the life of an athlete where you have lots of "down time" I appreciate going home even more, there is always sometime to do and never a dull moment. While at home I got quite a bit of firewood for the winter, helped with moving the sheep one day, and helped my Uncle straighten up a barn that was falling over and probably would not have withstood the winter.

Straightening up the barn... notice the chain from the bumper to the barn.

Opening the gate for the sheep

Our sheep grazing on a new pasture

The view from the airplane of the Columbia River when flying out of Wenatchee, the most scenic flight I have even been on. 

Lastly but certainly not least I am proud to announce that I have a new sponsor, Bliz! Earlier this summer I submitted an application to the company and just found out that they decided to sponsor me with sun glasses. I have never had any kind of eyewear sponsorship and am pretty excited!! I can't wait to try their proflip sunglasses/snow shield, sunglasses that just flip up out of the way for shooting. I have seen lots of biathletes using these I think they will be quite effective. Check out their website for the full product lineup... http://www.blizeyewear.com.