November 28, 2009
Hi Everyone!
I just wanted to write a short little journal entry before I leave for the JGP Final. First off, hopefully everyone had a great Thanksgiving. I had a nice holiday spending time with my family. My sister and I went to watch the Thanksgiving Day parade in Detroit with my coach and her family. After, I went to the rink for an hour and did a double run through of my long. I had to earn all that turkey I was about to eat!!! After, we went to visit my grandpa at his house, before picking up my great-grandma and going back to my house for dinner. We had about 20 people over and it was une grande fête!
Skating has been going very well. I’m much more confident going into this trip than I was going into Germany. I’ve been skating very consistent programs for the past 3 weeks and it makes me feel great about myself. We added the triple axel back into my program, which is something I am excited about. I tried it at Skate Detroit and took it out before the JGP’s in my attempt to qualify for the Final. I told Lindsay that once I qualified I would put it back in because I want to be competitive with the best skaters in the world. I wouldn’t say the jump is consistent, I prefer to say that it’s consistently improving. I’m hopeful that I will land it for the first time in competition in Tokyo!!
So tomorrow I am off to Japan!! Our flight leaves around 12:30 in the afternoon and we get in around 4PM Monday morning, Tokyo time. I’m doing an early (6:45 AM) session at St. Clair Shores before I leave just to make last minute adjustments and perfections. I don’t think I’ve been more excited for a competition in my life and I’m so anxious to leave! Of course I’m not packed yet, my friend Brittany is coming over to help me do that tonight. You know how men are; we can’t do anything by ourselves. :)
Before I say goodbye I want to thank the entire “Team Grant” for helping me get to this milestone in my skating career. Thanks to Lindsay O’Donoghue for being the guiding light to help me reach my dreams; Maria Moscato for making me work on the things I hate working on but actually need to; Jodie Tasich for giving me a second mark; Sergey Magerovski for showing me that I actually have decent skating skills; Betsy Jones and Dr. Karageanes for fixing my back, Michelle at the Massage Place for working out all those extra kinks; My family for always being there to support me; Justin and Jessica for being my training buddies and pushing me every day; All of my great friends who are always there to keep my grounded; And last but not least, the USFSA for giving me such amazing opportunities.
To all of you, I am so thankful!
Talk to you after Tokyo!!
さようなら (Sayonara),
Grant
