Good Afternoon to all our Family and Friends!

I am glad that I have a chance to write you all this weekend!  I would like to share with you all the great happenings in our lives thus far in 2005.

Casey has been consistently finishing in the top 10 in the majority of his races.  He has become frustrated with his skates in the past few months and has switched back to his 2002 Olympic skates for the competitions over in Europe this February and March. He is hoping to make that jump to consistent top 5 finishes with more podium appearances!

2005 started off with a World Cup in Calgary...our second home!  I was lucky enough to join him, Ruthie and Jeff on this trip. I stayed with friends and caught up on everyone's happenings up there! It was definitely too short of a stay. It was great to see the whole gang again!  Thank you, Dawn and Mark, for your hospitality and the wonderful going away breakfast Sunday morning. :)

Results...Casey had a decent weekend, as he would say.  
DAY 1: Casey finished in 13th in his 500m race in a time of 35.29. He was not happy with this result and put it to the ice in his 1000m. He had his first podium finish for 2005, placing second in a time of 1:08.73.  He had a spectacular race...a race that everything went right!  He had a fast start, each turn was smooth, he got the perfect draft on the back stretch from his pair, he built speed in the straights, and he didn't "die" in his last 200m!  We were cheering like crazy!  YIPPEE!!
DAY 2: Casey had a better 500m race this day...finishing 5th in a time of 35.01.  One tenth from the medal stand! In his 1000m race, he finished 11th in a time of 1:09.26.  So we finish the weekend with a solid 1000m race on day 1 and a solid 500m race on day 2. 

(January 21...Casey turns the big 3-0! 30 years in this world and over 25 years of it has been spent on speedskates ON frozen water! And what he asked for for his birthday was scuba lessons!  Go figure!  I guess it's that fish thing.)

January 22-23 is in Salt Lake City!  World Sprint Championships! Home ice, now we're talking! Casey is psyched for the weekend and excited to be home.  I'm thrilled to host the Sylvan Learning Center Directors and their families at the Championships! We had great seats for day 1 at the end of the front straight away.  It was nice to be able educate and talk about speedskating with novices.  The rink was packed!  It was great to see so many people from Salt Lake come out to cheer on the international field!  The energy was electric!

DAY 1: Casey finishes 9th in his first 500m race with a time of 34.99.  In the 1000m races...Casey is second-to-last pair. In the third-to-last pair...Gerard VanVelde comes around his fourth corner...he is unable to hold it and crashes hard into the pads.  He hits his head on the ice hard and can't get up.  Paramedics are called and the competition is halted for about 15 minutes as they prep him and get him to the ambulance.  Thank goodness Paulina, Gerard's girlfriend, was their.  She was able to speak with him and be with him at the hospital.  He was released that evening...and has recovered. Casey's race was underway...after the wait...we were hoping for the best!  He came across the line in 1:08.84. A great time but only good enough for 11th place. He is definitely disappointed with his results thus far. His mind is spinning and he is trying to figure out what he can do to improve his results!

DAY 2: Casey finishes 10th in his 500m race in a time of 35.11. Going into his 1000m race he has nothing to loose...he comes across the line in a time of 1:08.50. One of his fastest times for the year! This is good enough for 5th place.  Overall for the weekend...he finishes 8th in the World Championships! Top ten...but definitely not as good as he would have liked. From this weekend...Casey has determined he is going to switch back to his 2002 Olympic skates!  He thinks he will have better results!  He trains the rest of January and into February on these skates.

Casey and the team flew to Erfurt, Germany this past week for a World Cup. This is the first time the Sprint Team has been to Erfurt. Casey says it's beautiful. They have great accommodations with a few convenience stores within a block or so of the hotel along with an internet cafe across the street.  He has been able to get his caffeine to stay awake with the 8 hour time difference! :) I can just see it...Casey sitting in a European cafe sipping a cup of java! :)
He starts off DAY 1 with a triple tie for 10th place in his 500m race with a time of 35.53 His 1000m race wasn't much better with an 11th place finish in a time of 1:10.13.  He said that in both his races, his turns were not solid. He had to put his hand down in both races due to slips.  Casey also said, he needs to get a faster start in both. But he sounds confident that it will come around in the next week or so. Definitely a different tone of voice on the phone over the weekend! A good tone!
DAY 2: Casey moves up in the standings with a 7th place in his 500m race in a time of 35.36 and a 9th place finish in his 1000m race with a time of 1:10.29. After talking with him today...he is still working on his turns and getting more solid pushes in his starts. Heard that Casey Confidence on the phone today!  It makes me smile!

Overall in the 500m World Cup standings...Casey is 8th, only 17 points out of 6th with two more races left next weekend. And in the 1000m World Cup standings...he is sitting 6th overall, only 10 points out of 5th with one race left next weekend.  They travel to Heerenveen, Holland for the last World Cup of the season next weekend and then on to Inzell, Germany for the World Single Distance Championships, March 5-6!

Sorry for the length...I promise the next Newsletters won't be this long!

Take care! Happy Valentine's Day to all!  ;)
Jennifer Fitz