Hello Everyone,

I just finished competing at the Broadmoor Open. It was super exciting and a lot of fun. I got to compete against so many amazing skaters. It was a truly great experience. I learned tons and got a lot of valuable feedback from the judges which I will use to help me improve in preparation for my next competition. I have a lot of work to do, but I am excited to get back on the ice and move forward.

Colorado springs is such an amazing place. The landscape is breathtaking. We had the opportunity to visit the Garden of the Gods, which is one of my favorite places in Colorado Springs It was slightly overcast, but still beautiful and I ended up getting some great pictures.

After the competition my mother and I were going to drive up Pikes Peak. However there was a race going on so the mountain was closed to visitors. Because we couldn’t go up the mountain we decided to do the next best thing. Walk up the Manitou Incline. I wasn’t sure that was such a great idea. For one thing I wasn’t dressed for it and for another it was getting quite hot. The parking for the incline was filled up so we had to park quite a ways away from the trail. Luckily there was a free shuttle bus that took us to the base of the incline.

It was hard! With more than 2,700 steps and a elevation gain of 2,000 feet packed into less than a mile, the Incline was probably the hardest hike I have ever done. It took me 37 minutes to go from the bottom to the top and by the time I made it I was very out of breath. It felt so amazing to make it to the top.

The next day, our last day in Colorado, we went to the Olympic Training Center. We caught the 9:00 am tour and I have to say the facility was very nice. We got to see the shooting range, pool and various other facilities. During the tour we also saw Nathan Chen working out.

Competing at the Broadmoor Open 2016 was a great experience. In addition to learning a lot, reconnecting with a lot of amazing competitors, I had the satisfaction of reaching my goals. Now have a marker for the rest of my season and I intend to work hard on improving for the next competition.

Thank you so much for your support!

Ikaika

If you would like to help support my skating check out my support me page.

P.S. I will post the videos of my programs on my blog in the upcoming weeks so that you can all see them.