Take 2 Minutes

Life comes at you fast. One minute you will be dodging the speeding bullet coming right at your face, then the next it turns out you moved right into the path of a bludgeon that will hit you from behind. There is not a lot we can do about it, or really prepare ourselves for it. I guess that's when you just gotta roll with the punches.

I've been feeling pretty punched this week. Last week I was running around and working out, then this weekend I could barely even leave bed. I had four days notice to get on top of my work and my life. Life doesn't just stop for you when you need it to. No, it keeps going full force and you better sprint fast because if you don't catch up soon you are only going to fall further behind.  I have been in full sprint mode, stepping one foot in front of the other, stuck so deep in the moment just trying not to fall over. The problem with sprinting is that it exhausts you and makes it really easy to forget how far you've come and only focus on how far you have to go.

But you can't sprint forever (it's physiologically proven!)...

The sprint is the grind. It's that dark tunnel that you have to figure your own way out of. It's one punch after another. Phrase it anyway you want... It's just life.

I've been so busy scrambling to get out of the rut I'm in, I forgot to notice what a beautiful, amazing place my rut is in.

I feel like I could describe my life in a million metaphors right now, but I finally got the chance to just stop for a minute (2 minutes) today and take a deep breath and smell the trees and the flowers and the grass (appropriate because it's earth day). I couldn't help but smile. I didn't need to go anywhere or escape... it was all around me.

Life can beat you down, hard, but I think we are all stronger than we realize. It's important to follow your passion and your dreams and to strive to be the best, but sometimes we need to stop and recognize the simple things that exist as a part of our daily lives.

So take 2 minutes, appreciate the earth, appreciate the people, its all so much bigger than you or me.

Then get on your way and chase those dreams!


Also, check it out:
http://snowboardgreen.blogspot.com/

Naka Family

Pictures as promised. 4/15/11

They really screwed me up!

no pain = so much fun!

The nugget and Nugget The Intern came to visit in style

That big gaping hole is for Anu

Never underestimate the power of family :)

Starting off on the Nugget Road to Recovery

It has been a hot minute since I last updated my blog. Mostly because everything just happened so fast! Following Vermont I went back to Utah for two weeks to pack my stuff and ride park city for a couple of days. It was a fun two weeks, but I just took it easy because I found out that i actually did have a scaphoid fracture. I was casted up in a pretty purple cast  and sent on my way to go get it rechecked a few weeks later. Did not think much of it because the doctor said it was close to my arm so it would be good (silly PC doctors). Had an awesome roadtrip back to the bay, stopping at Tahoe for the weekend. Started school, started working out at crossfit again, and filled my weekends with Tahoe and Kesem. Of course I missed Utah but I was really excited about my classes and happy to see my friends, so I got wrapped up in the whirlwind that is Stanford really quickly.

Monday, April 11th I went to the doctor to go get a new cast after an awesome weekend in Tahoe with the alums. After an xray, Dr. Yao explained to me that the blood to your scaphoid (a bone that already gets no blood) enters in by the thumb so I had fractured my bone pretty much in the worst place possible AND I had not healed in a month. So after walking into the Dr. to get a new cast, I walked out in a new cast and with a surgery date in 4 days to put a screw in my wrist.

This week was a total blur (I swear it wasn't just the pain meds!). Life just went on... I went to class, I played soccer, I went to work out, I dug in the garden, I moved into my new room... I barely had any time to think, let alone get nervous. My phone died permanently on me on Tuesday night (probably a blessing in disguise), so I wasn't even able to get a second opinion... I just did it!

So yesterday, Friday, April 15th, I got surgery! Piece of cake compared to ACL surgery. Plus I was surrounded by awesome people. Anu drove me to the hospital bright and early. Came out of the hospital full of happy juice and my right arm was entirely numb... I felt great! Carl and Zach the Intern were AWESOME and came all the way from SF to hang for a bit after I got out. I am so lucky to have such an awesome support group in my life. I was smiling all day and I know it wasn't just the drugs. Also thank you to everybody who sent me a text, wrote me a facebook, or gave me a call, you are all amazing. I wasn't even lonely when I was by myself!

so now I am on the nugget road to recovery! Pain is only temporary, and hopefully I can start working out again this week! Will keep updating when I am not on painkillers and am able to type with two hands. Thank you so much for all of the support, and I can't wait until I can use my right hand again! Pictures to come



http://youtu.be/j3YrNSw5a2I

US Open (March 6 - 11): Who says you can't go home?

"What is the feeling when you are driving away from people, and they recede on the plain till you see their specks dispersing? It's the too huge world vaulting us and it's goodbye. But we lean forward to the next crazy venture beneath the skies"

               -Jack Kerouac, On the Road

Kerouac was a literary genius and sought to find beauty in moving forward and new adventure despite the sadness of leaving things behind. Jack's life in On the Road is in constant motion in search of "it." For those who know Kerouac well, he, like most literary geniuses, died a very unsatisfied death, alone. Some will claim it is because he lived his life in pursuit of something that is not tangible, and would not view what was tangible as good enough. Kerouac was so focused on moving forward that he might have neglected to see that this life is not linear at all.

As the season begins to wind down many of us find ourselves leaning forward to the next crazy venture. There's beauty, sadness, excitement, nervousness, and everything that comes with the changing of the season and figuring out what to do next until we can grab a couple of weeks on snow in the summer and then prepare for the next winter. The feeling of moving forward can make you feel like you are leaving things behind, waving goodbye to the specks who defined your life for the last few months. This feeling only lasts so long, because the older we get the more we realize how interconnected our lives really are and forward and backwards become incredibly relative terms. This "too huge" world Kerouac speaks of is actually way smaller than we think.

Over the last 10 years I have, for lack of better words, been around the block. I have had 4 different home mountains spanning coast to coast, one being in Wintergreen, Virginia, so I don't often expect to run into all the people I have grown up with. "Home" no longer just describes one place to me. However, when in two weeks I wind up running into a vast majority of people spanning that decade... it is a pretty crazy feeling. A reminder that no matter how far we go - we can always go home. 

Vermont was an interesting experience (as it almost always is). After years and years of watching the US Open as a spectator, engaging in all the wonderful activities the open brings that do NOT have to do with snowboarding, it was really kind of cool to be on the snowboarding side of the open, however making it nonetheless intimidating. As competition days always go, monday was cancelled due to weather so we actually got to compete on a sunny day on tuesday. We saw the course for the first time Tuesday morning and had an hour to practice before competing. It was a creative course with some interesting features and big jumps. Keeping with the new theme I had not made it through the course before my qualifying run, so I was just trying to get through the course. Needless to say I did not either run, because I managed to overshoot the 70 ft jump everyone else was knuckling (surprise, surprise). I came away with a sore wrist but didn't think much of it, because my ego was far more bruised than my wrist. 

Some good things did come out of that day... My parents and my sister were there to watch as well as a special Bunny who I hadn't seen for a good 8 months. I am really lucky to have such an awesome family who are so supportive of what I do. I was glad they were finally able to come to a competition. Happiness is only real when shared. Reconnecting with family and friends pushed the bruisings to the back of my head. The competition was a valiant effort, and definitely not something to be ashamed of due to the size of the jumps, but I came away pretty exhausted.

The next few days the weather was pretty terrible so it consisted more of catching up with old friends than snowboarding. After getting an impromptu xray because of increased swelling, I found out I have a potentially fractured scaphoid (small bone on the inside of your wrist). They splinted up my right hand which has made for an interesting last few days. It's really amazing how useful opposable thumbs are... I'm pretty sure we take those for granted. Luckily we've got two of them so hitting the space bar when we type can be easily substituted. Due to the nature of a scaphoid fracture I have to get re-xrayed 10 days after the injury to find out if it is definitely fractured. Gonna take things a day at a time and the  take it from there.

After the clinic took my right thumb away from me and the Vermont weather failed to get better, I decided to skip out on Rev tour and head back to Utah to get my last two weeks of sacred snowboarding time before I head back to school. I skipped out on the Open parties and went home to Connecticut for the weekend. Got to catch up with some friends, get some family time, and hang out with the dogs. Definitely did not miss east coast snow that much...

I am now en route to Utah, ready to enjoy the last few weeks of my "abroad" time before switching to the daily grind.

While it was a long trip, it was a really awesome experience being able to compete in the Open. I came out of it exhausted and maybe a little broken, but it is all part of the territory. Although it was not my best performance of the year, actually being able to be there was a refreshing experience. Also I got to see lots of great friends and play with the puppies. 

And Mr. Kerouac, while I love and live by On the Road, I think its important we realize its not always goodbye. No matter where we go we always carry the people we have met in our lives with us, because its the people, places, and experiences along the way that have helped us to shape who we are and what we live for, and you can't ever lose that.

Mammoth Grand Prix (March 1 - 5th): Speeding up and slowing down

With a competitive lifestyle, we are currently "on the go." However, this last week the term has taken on a whole new meaning, making the rest of the season seem like a stroll in a park. The last 24 hours have been a full-on sprint. Since 6 PM last night I have made it through 4 states, 3 time zones, 2 separate car rides, and 2 separate plane rides. The best part? I'm not done! We still have a 3 hour drive ahead of us from Boston to Vermont. Talk about a whirlwind! The team left Mammoth last night after Grand Prix finals and a quick change and pack in the parking lot to embark on the 9 hour drive back to Utah. After arriving in Utah at 3 am, I quickly drove to my house and packed my snowboard bag then set out to Salt Lake to catch my 7 am flight, after a short plane ride to Phoenix and a one hour layover, I continued on to Boston, where I'm at now waiting for the rest of the crew to show up so we can do the 3 hour drive to Vermont (major shout out to Dustin for taking the hit on driving for this one). All so we can arrive in Vermont in time to register tomorrow to compete on Monday! Not only are the time zones messing with us, but I can guarantee that none of our sleep-deprived internal clocks have any idea what time it is right now.

By the second plane ride, I was done fighting to catch up on sleep and finally had some time to just sit and think. It had been quite the week and had all gotten caught up in the rush of getting from A to B (to C to D). We had packed Clifford up for Mammoth at 4 am Tuesday morning so we could make Grand Prix registration on Tuesday.  Wednesday and Thursday were scheduled practice days, but we woke up Wednesday morning to 8 inches of snow on the ground. After heading up to the mountain and inspecting the 30-70 ft jumps with 20 ft lips, there was no way practice was about to be held, so it was cancelled and we got the day to explore some powder on the mountain. Thursday morning looked a little more promising in the village, but as soon as we got to the mountain it was completely socked in and the winds were gusting. Pipe was called off and practice was postponed until 1.  At 1, things still were not looking promising, the winds were gusting and the course was put on course hold every 5 minutes, making jumping in this weather incredibly sketchy. A lot of girls were getting hurt, and Elin and I ended up only hitting about half of the features by the time practice was up. Sitting around looking at the biggest jumps I had seen in a while was not good for the mental game, but at least after we got to hit the first jump we felt a little more comfortable. However, we were still going into the competition pretty blind. At this point though, there was not much we could do about it. On Friday, neither of us were really sure what our run would be since we had not hit the whole course. Due to time constraints barely got our full 30 minutes of practice. At the end of practice more girls had taken the third jump deep and gotten hurt, and about 6 girls had pulled the night before, and 6 the day of, and I still had not made it through the whole course - great way to start off my first run. The course was definitely a little intimidating, although I did manage to make it through my first run (falling on the last jump... naturally), and Elin made it to finals, finishing with a 4th. The boys also dominated, Ryan in 4th and Caden in 8th. I unfortunately fell on both runs (good thing I'm being consistent) and did not make it to finals, but was thankful to walk away with two legs. After that, the rest is history...

The girls were forced to play it safe, which made for an interesting competition, but definitely started to prepare us for the US open where we only get an hour of practice before we compete. This is a whole new ball game and a whole new mental game. It forces us to take things as they come and be constantly on our toes. Especially with all this traveling, we kinda just have to go along for the ride. But we also have to remember to slow down. Now is the most important time to look inward and be confident in my self-knowledge and to find the balance between playing it safe and pushing boundaries. Without it, a lot is at risk. But this is why we do this sport, because everyday we grow and we learn something new about ourselves. No one said it was going to be easy.

I am looking forward to a good trip to my old stomping grounds!

Mid - Season Reflection

The hardest part about the snowboard season is the middle. After two months of go, go, go, you just want to stop. Athletes get beat up, worn out, and over it. When this happens it is more important than ever to believe in yourself and look at the bigger picture. It is really hard to keep the constant beat down of competition scores out of your head. When there is no external gratification, you have to search inside of yourself. We need to understand what being the "best" means, and how we can balance that with our fast-paced, ever-exhausting lives. It takes on a different meaning for everybody, and the key to endurance is finding out how being the best plays in your life. 

We spend our lives living in relativity, who is “better,” “more suited,” “stronger,” “fitter,” etc. Better is a term we use to compare ourselves to a societal optimum. And therefore we like to translate the societal optimum as being the “best.” But is best really a relative term? I don’t think so. I think best is something that comes from inside. It is a term that honors the value of the individual. When you are the best, you are not the best because of quantitative factors. It’s not because you are necessarily stronger or more suited than the people around you. It is because you have found a way to take who you are and what you have to offer and utilize each of these qualities to the maximum effort. We can best use terms like “better” to set goal marks, because we have no other way to measure our progress. But it’s not about how we are in comparison. When you get caught up in the idea of better and worse, you begin to bog yourself down in defeat. Being the best is an individual effort that comes independent of everybody else. You take in what you see and you take your personality, and the opportunities offered to you and you make it your own. No one will ever reach the point of being “the best.” Realistically, there is no right way to get there. We live in a world of billions of people where everybody is living their own individual life and has their own ways of looking at the world.

             Consistency, looking for quality, and positive mental attitude. It doesn’t require any special talent, or special genes… It requires you to believe in yourself and to know yourself better than you know anyone else. There is no endpoint because no matter where you are in life, you will not be perfect and you will still be looking for quality. The “best” take these three things, and apply it to everyday life. Notice, each of these three things has NOTHING to do with anyone else. Then we reach the problem, what about ourselves? Aren’t we our own worst enemy anyways? But like I said, the term “better” is not something to use to quantitatively measure things. Every day we are at a different point in our lives. It is important to understand, know, and accept the past so we can progress, but we can’t lose ourselves in it. We see the progression, we understand where we’ve been, but we deal with life in the present. Sometimes life will throw us a curve ball, and we “fall backwards” in what presume to be our progression. But we adjust, it’s a blank slate and we move forwards. Perhaps the level at where we were changes, but consistency, quality, and positive mental attitude don’t. It is when we understand this adaptability, the variables rather than the sum, that we can continue to strive to become the best. We probably will never be able to quantify what our best is. But quantity does not even hold a candle to quality, and we will never stop looking for quality.


Once we are able to inspire ourselves, we can inspire others to no end. 

Tahoe (February 10-12): Going with the FLOW

Sometimes when life is taking you for a ride you just have to hold on.  It's like riding a bull: you need to learn exactly which way to lean when the bull is bucking, and if you lean wrong you will be thrown. You just can't fight it.  Even when you learn which way to lean, you are going to get bucked eventually - all the good bull riders do. But what separates the champions from the hombres is getting back on the bull and trying to learn more so you can stay on for that one second longer.

The last couple of weeks following the Jackson trip have been crazy - filled with adventure, excitement, happiness, and frustration. It has been a struggle to find a solid rock in a fast moving stream. After Jackson I decided to stay in Utah and enjoy the company of friends. It was a adventure-packed week filled with surprises and new experiences. It ended up being too cold to snowboard for a few days, but life definitely did not lack excitement. I had a good few days to myself, learned some new tricks, broke a board, and just lived and love, and at the end of the week felt ready to dive back in.

The following weekend was the Brighton Gatorade Free Flow Tour. We woke up early and drove to Brighton, signed up, and began practicing. Unfortunately during practice it started dumping snow and the jumps were literally not hittable. To clear the first small side you needed to straight line past all the rail features, and even after making that jump, you could barely get up the lip of the second jump. So at the end of practice the competition was cancelled. While this was a relief for the day, it made things a little complicated for the following weekend...

This weekend was probably the most stacked competition weekend of the entire year, they (whoever organizes competition schedules) scheduled the dew tour, aspen open, revolution tour, and gatorade free flow finals right on top of one another. Because I did not get to compete in Brighton meant that I did not have a guaranteed spot at the Gatorade Free Flow Finals, but since I had placed 2nd in Jackson Hole I had a good chance of being given a wild card, because they had invited all the second place winners last year, but it was not for sure. This made decisions difficult because if I went to Tahoe for Revolution Tour, then I would be driving back the night before finals which would not be ideal. After days of back and forth of going and not going between the entire team, I decided that going to Tahoe would be the best decision because I was not guaranteed a spot in Finals, I have a boreal pass, was already signed up for Rev tour, and had figured out lodging. After a lot of indecisiveness, Scott, Mitch and I finally packed the car on Wednesday to head to Tahoe. As we were getting in the car we found out that Gatorade Free Flow was not giving out wild cards to finals. While this was a bummer, it put a lot less stress on our trip.

We trekked the 8 hours on I-80 through the beautiful Nevada desert (mmm, my favorite drive) and arrived late Wednesday night at the Stanford Ski Team cabin. Although it was a new cabin, the familiar drive up northwoods felt like going home. It was the same drive I had made hundreds of times before, and I couldn't help but smile. The next day I rode Boreal for the first time all season, and it felt like nothing had changed. The course was probably the best rev tour course all year: 50 ft jump to battleship box or gap to down rail, to flat down box or gap to flat down rail, to launch box/drop down feature to a 45 ft jump. It was a long course and flowed really well. After getting comfortable with the course I was determined to land my front 3 off the first jump. I had told Scott my goal for the trip was to finally stomp my front 3 in a competition which I had not done yet. I must've fallen at least 10 times trying it on Thursday. The jumps got really icy in the afternoon so I called it a day without landing a front 3 and headed over to pipe to watch Mitch compete. After Scott and I worked hard on my approach into the jumps so I would stop washing out on my landings. The next day was warm and sunny again and the girls were competing in the morning and things were good. I set out to do my safety run, got the first part of the course but then corked out a back 3 and landed on my thumb on the last jump. Second run I was ready to lay down my front 3 on that first jump. I came in just like we had practiced and stomped my front 3. I was so excited that after the down rail I fell on every other feature, didn't have enough speed for the last jump, and then fell getting on the lift. Talk about sloppy nuggets! So all in all, I completely blew the competition, but accomplished the goal I had set out to do. As soon as the adrenaline stopped rushing through my body, I realized I had actually beat myself up pretty hard that morning and was pretty much done for the rest of the day. After riding we hopped in the car and headed back to Utah. It ended up being a very quick and easy trip and relatively very successful. Sometimes success doesn't come in contest wins. `

Now I am back in Utah, enjoying two weeks without competitions. It is time for a much needed break. Sometimes you need a few days to remind you why you do what you do. Everyday I am overcoming new obstacles, and I absolutely love it. It's not always easy, but it's a journey and I feel very positive about where this journey is going.

As for today, it's Valentine's day, and all about loving. So live and love it up.