10 Downing Street Visit

I was up in London this week, I had been invited to a party at 10 Downing Street hosted by Samantha Cameron and Anna Wintour of US Vogue! It was London Fashion Week and a small gathering of designers and models had been invited, so their I was standing next to Kate Moss, Sienna Miller, Claudia Schiffer… the list could go on, I was amazed! I was looking at people I had only ever seen in your favourite fashion magazine! Luckily I was wearing a dress that Burberry had loaned me from a previous occasion that I hadn’t worn yet, I felt like I was dressed appropriately and was chuffed when several people commented on how lovely it looked along with the gorgeous hand bag I was carrying! So thank you Burberry for making me feel and look special amongst the room full of super models!

One Year Anniversary of the GOLD

Last Saturday I spent the whole day baking cakes! My house smelled amazing like a fresh bakery. I was having that evening Champagne and Cup Cake party to celebrate my year’s anniversary of the big race, so I had decided to host a little family and friends gathering, along with my Gold Medal!
I was half way through baking when I realised that I had an interview arranged and was meant to meet someone in Bath. I met Ian Stafford, who wanted to do the interview for his website sportsvibe.co.uk. We ended up going back to my flat as the cakes were in full process and in a production line to get ready for that evening…I was decorating everyone different, so was taking a little time! It also meant that Ian could test out my new raspberry ones! I chatted to him about life in the past year, what I’ve been up to, what my dreams are in the future. A lovely guy always makes it easier to do interviews when the person generally is interested in you as a person!

Artizan Hair Stylist Zac Fennell works his magic on my hair!

My hairdresser and friend Zac Fennell from Artizan Hair in Bath, www.artizan.co.uk asked if he could do a fashion shoot with me a little while ago...I have just got the photos back they are AMAZING! I also had the chance to wear the most beautifull jewlery from designer Jane Watling, take a look at her wonderful creations, www.watlings.com

End of the road this "winter"

My life on the road has come to the end for another winter season. I competed in just the last four of the Skeleton World Cup races Austria, Germany, Switzerland and Italy. A traveller’s lifestyle, a different hotel each week, different room and change of bed! Daily schedules dictate what we’re supposed to be doing and when. Now my competitions are over and I find myself a little lost!
I’ll be honest, it was a lot harder then I had imagined, coming back to the races after deciding to take the first half of the season off. There are no training guides to tell you what you are meant to feel like when you race again after experiencing such a high, like the one I had following Vancouver. You suddenly become more critical and as is common in most professional sport, you start to analyse every last detail and question things you didn’t previously. In all of my four races I didn’t perform to the level I wanted to, or felt I was capable of, which is really hard to cope with.
It’s good to feel these emotions though, because it reaffirms what I always believed, that while the competitive fire in my belly dimmed momentarily, I always knew I wanted to keep improving and build on what I achieved at the Olympics. For now though, I will take a little time out, find some adventures away from skeleton and refresh my brain, so it is ready to train, train, train again!

St Moritz Race 7

The beautiful St Moritz, the only natural man made track in the world, made from blocks of ice from the frozen lake. Blue sky and sun, amazing....my training...pretty good; the race...could have gone better!!
First run was solid, although I did think it would and could have been quicker but I was very confident I would be able to pick up some time on the 2nd run. On the 2nd run as soon as I loaded onto my sled I could feel something wasn’t right, I kept getting pulled to the left so I struggled to keep it under control and was getting quite a few little hits and skids all the way down the track, so I dropped several places, wrong way around! I was planning to pick up some places!
That evening the coaches and I checked my sled (I do this before and after races, to make sure everything is in working order) we found that quite a few pieces in it were bent, not good! Don’t know how it happened, we are still trying to solve that mystery, but it did at least give me a reason as to why I was pulled to the left the whole time!
The best thing about the whole day though was the super surprise visit of my boyfriend, Petr. He had driven from Prague to see me race, I hadn’t seen him since the New Year! Was a great moment to see his face suddenly standing on the track shouting at me at the start! At least that gave me a smile to remember in St Moritz.