Something new..

Today is November 10, 2019. I think the last blog post I wrote was an update about my 2016 racing season, so here we are, updating you all three years later. I'm not sure why I stopped writing these, but my guess is somewhere between trying to graduate from college, training full time, and being a dog mom... time to write random blog posts just wasn't there.

Flash forward three years later, and here we are, sitting in a new apartment in Salt Lake on a Sunday night with no assignment due at 11:59 that I forgot about, no school assignments to worry about in the near future, and my only worry about work is selling shoes to people at Dick's. 

The past few years have been full of adventures, to say the least.  I stopped skating for a bit to only race my bike for a full year, decided it wasn't worth giving it up for, and found my way back to skating again after only taking off the 2017 season. I went to worlds two more times, 2018 in The Netherlands and 2019 in Barcelona, Spain, where I placed top 15 in the 100m both times.

I transferred from Penn State LV to Kutztown University, where I ended up graduating this past May with a B.A. in Communication Studies and a minor in Public Relations. The degree is currently hanging on my wall in front of me, so I guess that mean's it's legit. I also somehow graduated with Cum Laude, even though I was literally never there.

I also ended up missing my graduation for this year's world team trials.. go figure, my luck. Lucky for me, I ended up winning 4 gold medals, winning every sprint race at trials, due to my best bud Erin being injured. But hey, like she said to me, a win is a win. I was super upset about missing graduation, so that made it just a bit less sour for me.





After trials, I decided to keep riding my bike even though I wasn't training full time, and had a killer summer in Ttown. Made some race money, figured out I could actually race enduro stuff, and met some of the coolest people I know from across the world who made my summer.
"Hakuna Matata B**ches, this is America"

Before I graduated in May, I made the decision that I would be moving to Utah to switch to ice once the cycling season ended. It felt so far away, but the summer absolutely flew by, and suddenly I was packing up the final bits of my townhouse in Kutztown and driving to Utah. I knew that I would be leaving PA eventually, but boy it came way faster than I ever expected it to. A year and a half prior to this, I was training full time at the velodrome trying to be a full time track cyclist. It's insane how quickly things can change, honestly.


But yeah, September 9th, I packed up my life into my Subaru and a Uhaul and the 40 hour drive across the country began. Four days of driving later, I arrived in Utah on September 12th, my 24th birthday, and went immediately to a Florida Georgia Line concert with my friends. And that was the beginning of where we are now.

2 months later, I've settled into being back on a full time training plan.. for my third sport. It's definitely a huge challenge every day, but I'm taking it one step at a time. Each day is better and better, and this place is kind of starting to feel like home. Kind of.

 

I keep walking into my new Dick's Sporting Goods store and expecting to see my old coworkers, who truly were some of my absolute best friends back home. I keep walking into Target and expecting to run into everyone in the world that I know. Stores like that are really trippy.. they look the same, feel the same, but then when I don't see the Philadelphia sports apparel in the corner, I know I'm not really "home". But my new store is pretty cool, and I'm sure I'll adjust to seeing the Jazz stuff all over the walls.. eh, who am I kidding. Go Sixers!

Although I severely miss Wawa, Bagel Bar, and good pizza.. Koda and I have adjusted pretty well so far. He loves hiking in the mountains, where there is already snow he can zoom through, and the view isn't so bad either. This year will be about the process, so I'll try to keep updating this when I can. 

I actually kind of miss having to write for school, so this passes some time and makes me feel like I'm using my brain for more than rewatching Degrassi, again.

-Kenz :)