In and Around the Endurance Village

We’ve had a few days now to settle in and explore the Endurance Village. Life has been pretty busy. Tomorrow are the Opening Ceremonies. I will not be marching in them because I will be preparing for our first race this weekend.

Fantastic mountain scenery in every direction here… It just makes you want to dance!

The Endurance Village seen from above

Hannah jogging our commute to breakfast. We have been logging a lot of walking time each day to and from meals since the shuttle buses haven’t been running super consistently yet.

Sara grabbing some food from the salad bar with NBC in tow. There are camera crews everywhere. Today I even ran into some during my sauna!

Looking down at the biathlon stadium from the top of the course.

Annelies and coach Per enjoying a sunny day on the shooting range. So far, everyday has had blue bird skies!

Our rifles are stored in secure lockers and we sign them out before practice each day. There is dryfire room where we can warm up before shooting practices. We were pleasantly surprised to find Skiergs there (see on far left) which we have been incorporating into our training the last month.

Hanging out in our team’s chalet. So far, there hasn’t been as much down time as I expected, but if we ever get bored, there is a karaoke/cinema, disco, arcade game room and plenty of other entertainment within the village.

Endurance Village and heated pool by night.

Myself, Ida and Hannah: the Craftsbury girls at The Games. Our club coach, Pepa, arrives tonight as a coach for Bermuda. This afternoon our thoughts are with the Craftsbury and Dartmouth communities as they hold a memorial ski for Torin Tucker.

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Smooth Arrival in Sochi

The last couple of days have felt surreal. Saturday morning, we finished our preparation training camp and drove from northern Italy to Germany for USA Olympic Team Processing. Yesterday we flew to Sochi and settled in the endurance village (biathlon and xc ski athletes only) on top of a mountain.

The Team Processing took place in the Munich Olympic Hall. We were outfitted with our team uniforms, including opening and closing ceremony stuff and received our credentials. There were a lot of stations to visit in a short afternoon.

Trying on the opening ceremony outfit

Craftsbury gals in our closing ceremony garb

It was a nice surprise to see a familiar face in Munich- Sam from the Lake Placid OTC kitchen was helping to organize food and logistics for team processing.

Lowell at the autograph station

Our biathlon team leader, Bernd, shares some history of the 1972 Munich Olympic Park and its democratic design. The walls and roofs of the venues in the background were made of glass so that everybody could see in and share the experience. The Park’s paths were paved after the Games based on where people had chosen walk and naturally worn in paths.

Early Sunday morning we took a charter flight from Munich to Sochi with other American athletes and staff, including a large contingent of the luge team.

Retrieving luggage at the airport: a chaotic scene. And more of our bags are yet to come!

The Sochi volunteers are hard to miss- we are loving the rainbow Russia!

Blue sky day in the city of Sochi

The Endurance Village is about an hour’s bus ride away.

View on the gondola ride up to the Endurance Village.

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