May 16, 2010

Hello Sportsfans,

There is much good news to energize me as the 6-month block of training gets going once again. Mainly being healthy, injury free and having a coach. Although Cross Country Canada switching the coaches up has been the dizzying trend of the past 4 years, this time it's going to stick... I just know it. American two-time Olympian Justin Wadsworth, husband of Canadian legend Beckie Scott has taken on our team and I'm really looking forward to working with him for many years to come. The Wadsworth-Scotts have bought a great house and Canmore is thrilled to be welcoming them and their rugrats Teo and Bryn to the community.

Training season is well underway and I'm happy as a clam to be grinding through the re-acquaintance of my body with a few hours of exercise per day. Even better - I've been doing my training in France this week as Devon and I have actually followed through on some of our profligate talk of places to go and things to do. Our beloved wax technician Yves Bilodeau has been living in France (originally from Quebec) for many years in an ancient shell of a building that he has epically built into a beautiful home that we have always wanted to visit.

Rollerskis outside the home of our tremendous friend, wax tech, adventure race champion and consummate host Yves in the Haute Savoie region, France

There I enjoyed running on the trails, 'dancing' to the cols, and rollerskiing up one of the most persistently wicked ascents - Le Colombier. I've enjoyed awesome training layered upon good times with great friends and plenty of yabbering away in French, which Devon and I enjoy so much.

Rollerskiing Le Columbier with the Rhone and Lac du Bourget in the background

'Dancing' is a legitimate technical term in French for standing out of the saddle to power up the steep climbs. I love this country!

Devon and I are now in Northern Spain for a week of meeting the great people who bought attended a fabulous Gold Medal Plates dinner last fall (www.goldmedalplates.com) and raised their hands for the live auction item:

The Great Wine Adventure - The Best of Bordeaux, Cult-Status Priorat and Historic Rioja
Hosted by Olympic Gold Medallists Chandra Crawford and Jennifer Heil, Canada's Most Respected Wine
Guru, David Lawrason and Singer, Songwriter Barney Bentall

Jenn and her boyfriend and coach Dominic Gauthier will be hosting the Bordeaux part and Devon and I (along with help from none other than my dad Glen Crawford) will get to meet 60 people over the course of the week and try a lot of cool wine. Having had the pleasure of doing a trip with this organization last year to Napa/Sonoma California I can't say enough about how awesome their trips are and how much we athletes appreciate the participants commitment to this Canadian Olympic Committee fundraiser.

May 25th we fly through most of the cities of the world to finally end up in Bend, Oregon. Home of our new coach Justin and location of this year's first training camp.

Merci a tous!

Chandra