Here I am! Round two of the America's Cup circuit in Lake Placid, New York. We got here late last night and I got a chance to walk through the track in preparation for today. This here is Curve 18. Don't be fooled by it's pretty paint job, or by the word "curve" in its name. It might as well be a 15-foot high vertical wall ... oh wait ... IT IS.

Welcome to another a-deskjob-is-a-respectable-life-endeavour-isn't-it moment in Michelle Bartleman's life.

After we had watched the always exciting airline safety presentation (FYI there were six exits), we were all sitting quietly, with our seatbelts fastened low and tightly across our laps when the "Mission Impossible" theme song starts blaring from the overhead speakers.

"This is your captain speaking. Vancouver tower has chosen to accept our mission to go to Montreal today and we will be pushing off momentarily."

So on Monday morning, a day after getting back to Squamish, I got on the bus and went downtown to run a few errands, check the mail and go work out. I happened to be walking by the local newspaper office (called The Squamish Chief) so I thought I'd pop in, since I'd been planning to pitch myself as a human interest story for their sports section. Because, you know, who doesn't phone up the newspaper on a regular basis and suggest themselves as relevant and fascinating news fodder?

No, of course that is not me, all giddy trying on my new racing suit and posing by my sled with bare feet in the hotel room.

Well ... I think Tuesday night training won this round ... I've got the bruises to prove it!