During the five weeks traveling with the Front Range Paddling
Association, I've gained many experiences that have allowed me to grow not
just as a paddler, but as a person. I'm much stronger than I was before
hand, physically, mentally, emotionally. And when asked to reflect on those
points, I knew I'd have to break the summary into sections. And so, for each
location that we trained I will tell you how I grew in those three ways.

Idaho was the very first part of the trip. At the beginning, I
didn't know all of the paddler's names, none the less their personalities
or abilities as a whitewater slalom racer. Mental, what Idaho did for me is
made me realize how good I was in comparison to the other athletes. I had
come into the first week with a cocky attitude. By the end of our first
training section with gates my head had shrunk quite a bit. The other kid's
performances had done a very good job of showing me who was boss.

Physically, Idaho was very hard because never before had I ran for more than
a mile. Ever! So it was kind of a shock when every day we ran for twenty
minutes or greater. So that was the beginning of my endurance being beaten into shape.

Emotionally it was great because I made new friends and learned about them.
Although that would continue throughout the entire trip, it was strongest in
that first week.

Our time during in Alberta is what I would remember most if I
had to pick just one section of the trip. Where our camp was located the scenery was
breath taking. Everyone we met was polite, and you could drink the
river water. The only thing bad about Canada was that the mosquitoes were
horrible. They were like demon spawn bugs.

Physically my endurance continued to improve, but I was still having trouble
running. During the Locksaw river run I had a minor nagging pain.

This brings me to emotional growth. Not being able to paddle was really hard for me.

I felt useless and weak. But I was able to master those feelings.

Metal growth was simply I was getting better at pushing myself.

At Carlton I learned to better deal with inner disappointment. I
did badly both days of racing, but I was surprisingly ok with it. I
understood my mistakes and moved on. I was steadily getting stronger and
faster from all of the calisthenics and running. I was actually getting in
shape.

Wausau was when the physical and technical elements of
whitewater slalom really started to come together for me. I really had kind
of a breakthrough that allows me to do really well during the races. It felt
really great to place highly in the junior class and so I went into the
final week confident and happy.

South Bend was the final stretch of the trip. By then I was in
great shape and my technique had improved immensely. Really the only
difficulties were the fact the trip would soon be over.

The further into the week I got, the more I started to think about how much I'd
miss my new friends.

The whole trip was about getting experiences.

In the end I surprised myself how much I grew as an athlete. I
can't think of a better way to have spent my summer.