Thankfulness...& Happy Thanksgiving!

Break from training in Germany 2 summers ago: across the
border in Innsbruck, Austria, where Mom raced her first
Olympics

Thankfulness...

A loaded word. It means something different to us all, but it's a word that can keep us grounded, remembering that who we are has been from people, places, events, things influencing us along the way. For me, faith in Jesus Christ and my parents are the main reasons that I stay grounded in life, aware that all I have is because of God and people that have provided for me, given me life, love, shelter, food, my necessities. Yes, I have worked hard for some things in life, but I've gotten to that discipline because of examples I've seen in others and my desire out of love to obey my Lord and Savior. 

And though I believe we should be conscience to express our thankfulness each and every day, not just on Thanksgiving Day, but it is wonderful to use this day to give back the love and gratitude to those that have poured into Jeffrey and my life.

So thankful for my family...

First thankfulness: Looking back on the season so far, before it even started, I was wondering how our family would get through another season without the financial means we've been needing. With my injuries over the last years, I don't get performance-based funding like I have other years and our pursuit to find sponsorship proved extremely difficult. So when Jeffrey and I set up a last minute funding site on RallyMe a few months ago, it blew our minds how family, friends, speedskating family, companies, etc. gave selflessly to our training, providing us with financial stability and keeping us from stressing out. Our RallyMe just ended last week and the experience was humbling. Not wanting to put ourselves out there on a crowd-funding site originally, we took the step. It was definitely a challenge in the beginning as we were learning the steps of how to put together a successful crowd-funding site, but we couldn't be more grateful to everyone who was

involved. The results were an answer to prayer and of the faith we have in the Lord. If you are reading this and have wanted to contribute to TeamSwiderPeltz in any way, contact us by email (you can find our emails here: http://www.teamswiderpeltz.com/p/contact.html) or purchase the one and only TSP T-Shirt here: http://tspstuff.spreadshirt.com!

But more than the financial thankfulness, Jeffrey, my mom and I have been overwhelmed by the little things people have done for us. From verbal, text, social media and email encouragement to prayer, we cannot thank our friends and fans enough for giving us the mental focus needed to keep our eye on the goal of making these next Olympics. Knowing so many people are behind us and rooting for us really drives our performance in training...it truly makes a huge difference. 

Then to those that have given their services, their products and their time to make sure Jeffrey and I are physically in the best condition and our bodies are running on the best nutrition, we thank you from the bottom of our hearts and we hope that in this whole journey to Sochi 2014 and possibly beyond, you enjoy the process and are excited to be a part of the USA Olympic excitement.

Again, thank you all for your support in TeamSwiderPeltz and giving us the motivation/opportunity to pursue our goals in speedskating. And though we love this sport, we are also aware of the gifts God has given us and hope that in our pursuits we show that we are doing this for the glory of God, for He has given us everything. We owe all to Him...we are thankful.

God Bless & Happy Thanksgiving!
Nancy Jr.


1 Corinthians 9:25
  

P.S. to those that were trying to reach out to me and ask why I haven't been racing much (or at all, ha), especially in the fall world cup trials back in October, I'm truly sorry for not getting back to you. I have been lacking in my communication as of late, but it's been because of a recent change in training which has made my schedule super busy. My absence in racing was mainly due to training complications back in September/early October and a quick decision to solely focus on the Olympic Trials rather than on World Cups in addition to the Trials.

Teammate Brian Hansen's 1000 Meter bronze medal race from Salt Lake City.

One of his 5 medals earned the last 2 weeks of World Cup competitions in Calgary, Canada and Salt Lake City. You can definitely see his characteristic super strong last lap in this video which is incredible for a 1000 meter race. Yeah Bri!

Neckwarmer's!

In honor of today, the last day of our RallyMe fundraiser (which has already helped us so much this season) you can get a Team Swider-Peltz neckwarmer/buff for $20! Thanks to our awesome Dutch friends the Boogaard's for making them for us! You can get one at the right side of our rally page at the $20 donation level here >> https://www.rallyme.com/rallies/187

Jeffrey's results from US Championships (Oct 25-27)

But first a couple pics I got from some of you who watched the live stream!!! You guys are awesome.

from cousin Mikey Swider

from Ryan Augustino

from Keri Shannon

A quick update here cause we haven't posted any results from the last competition! I raced only twice this time, trying to focus on the 1500m, my best distance. In the end I raced a pretty good 1500m,  had my best placing ever and broke my PB by a second. On the other hand, I started my 5000m really well but too fast so I ended up so tired on the last few laps...it was sooo painful, and painful to watch haha, but you gotta go for it sometimes. So I wasn't too happy with that. Remember, the US has 4 spots in the Olympics for the 1500m so that's where I've gotta be in less than a couple months.