Saturday, December 13, 2008

Holiday Parade

Last Saturday I participated in the 2008 Colorado Springs Christmas Parade. There were 45 total athletes from the Olympic Training Center that participated as well as many many other floats and groups from Colorado Springs. We were honored enough to have Lopez Lomar who you may remember carrying the American flag at opening ceremonies leading Team USA. Lopez yet again lead our group of athletes by carrying the American Flag in front of the supportive community of Colorado Springs. We had a great time walking, waving and even jumping out of line here and there to high five people in the crowd. I was even able to find my parents in the crowd and ran over to high five them. My mom was going crazy....imagine that :) Walking to the start of the parade, I couldn't get any good pictures because it was so dark out !
Lopez Lomar USA Weightlifting Resident Athletes, Zach Krych, Patrick Judge and I

Make-A-Wish Foundation

The USOC and Make-A-Wish Foundation held a Holiday Wish Store on December 8 at the Colorado Springs U.S. Olympic Training Center's visitor Center. The weather started to change quickly (it has a tendency to do that here !) and the snow was rolling in over the mountains. We had a good turn out, but I believe there would have had more children if the roads weren't starting freeze and the snow coming down. I did get to help 3 children, Joey, Cameron and Andrew shop for their families. They were all very happy to be there and buy presents for their families, friends and teachers. This was a great opportunity to work with children and give back to the community. This is something I would like to start doing every year on regular basis.
(All photos taken by Scott Cronk)