Skeleton is kinda a frustrating sport (especially after being a gymnast for half my life) because if you are having problems with a certain skill or portion of the track, well, too bad, you only get six runs before a race. Or, IF IT SNOWS RETARDED AMOUNTS ON ONE OF YOUR TRAINING DAYS, four runs.

So you have to be a little bit creative when it comes to learning to dirve a skeleton sled, which is why we keep detailed training notes, do exhaustive video reviews, run through countless visualizations, and, you know, go to Swiss ice rinks late at night.

Because we had a snow day yesterday, we only got a total of four runs, down the track, instead of the usual six, before our race tomorrow. Today I was having a terrible time with skidding in the long, slow straights, and was hemorrhaging both time and speed before I even got to corner three of the track.

So last night my coach and I headed out to look for a patch of ice somewhere in St. Moritz, so that I could practice skidding my sled and making corrections. We were hoping to find a cleared patch of ice on the frozen lake, but considering the ... oh, I don't know ... let's call it ... RETARDED AMOUNTS OF SNOW ... the lake looked more like a fluffy marshmallow dessert. I hate marshmallows.

But we found the local ice arena instead, and so I asked the lady at the front desk, in a twisted mix of English, trashy Quebec French (I am pretty sure at one point I used the word "char"), and just plain bad German, if it would be possible to use "eine kleine stück eis" to practice with my sled.

She checked with her manager and told me that I could come any of the next three evenings, but my race was tomorrow during the day, which I explained.

I supposed it was my adorably cute good looks (or maybe her ears were bleeding from the havoc I had just wreaked on two of her, likely, seven languages, and she just wanted me to stop talking) but there were a couple of guys who had rented out the second rink in the back to play hockey, and she asked them if I could use a corner of the ice, to which they happily obliged (See? Told you it was the cuteness factor ... ).

So Scott, my coach, spent a half hour throwing me and my sled into skids (and sideboards) while we figured out the best way to correct them. Here's to hoping I have things under control for tomorrow ...