McKennis Blog: Back in the Saddle

Whew… already more half way through my trip to New Zealand! The skiing has been good down here and I am so psyched to back on skis. Going over six months without skiing is far too long! I have been skiing two days on snow followed by a rest day. We have been sticking to this plan to make sure the stress of skiing isn’t too much for my leg and so far it is working! I have had four days on snow and plan to get another four or five days before I leave.

My leg hasn’t bothered me too much which is really encouraging to me, it has been a lot of work to make it back on snow and it feels great to see my hard work pay off. Each day I am on snow my leg feels better, just taking it a few days to get back in the swing of it! I have been doing a ton drills down here trying to find my balance and a solid body position again. Not gonna lie, I felt like a total dork the first day back on snow, just struggling all day to figure things out but the drills have been very productive and yesterday I was even carving one ski turns on slalom skis! I know what everyone is thinking, slalom skis and I normally don’t get along but I promise that I was totally ripping on them! I really want to take off and go fast, and maybe get a little out of control… but that will have to wait till next camp I suppose. Dang.  Skiing here is not without its challenges, there have been a few crazy out of control people skiing around that have tried to T-bone me at least ten times, I’m not worried about my leg anymore it’s the other people around that make me nervous. I may not be running Downhill right now but I’m still livin on the edge…

Aside from skiing I have partaken in the normal activities around Queenstown, on our arrival day we made the customary visit to Fergburger (THE best burger joint ever. I highly recommend it to everyone that visits Queenstown) and each had a burger the size of my head. I’m not kidding; it’s pretty intense to eat a whole Fergburger. They are HUGE, but so tasty. I have been going for a lot of walks and may even try to get into some golf today. My golfing skills are minimal but I like to try and channel my inner Rickie Fowler and see what happens, which usually isn’t much more than me whiffing and missing the ball completely.

For now I will be keeping it in control and pretty casual on the hill to get my ski legs back, but just wait…I’ll be back soon enough!

Cheers!