APRIL 16, 2008
Hello friends,
Thanks again for checking in on Chrissy and me. Last month I met with one of my oldest friends on a short trip back to my family's home in Scotland. Jennifer said that checking our website was the best way to keep up to date with my whereabouts. It is good to know that our journal entries serve good use!
Last month we enjoyed a week's break from training where Chrissy travelled to San Diego and visited her brother. I then flew to Denver a week later where we met to spend 10 days having our new free dance choreographed by Tom Dickson at the World Arena in Colorado Springs.
We are both really pleased with what Tom has created for our “Elizabeth – The Golden Age” free dance. The style is a departure from what we have done in our previous free dances and I am sure that it will serve us well. In addition it was good to push our boundaries with not only a style change but a different choreographer. We were lucky to work with Mathew Gates in the past and now we are eager to work with Tom again.
Whilst training in Colorado, I stayed at the Olympic Training Center there. It was a truly fantastic experience! I was overwhelmed by the facilities and training alongside America's elite athletes was an inspiration. I was lucky to be able to stay as a resident international athlete which allowed me to gain all of the privileges enjoyed by team Americans. My particular favourite was daily access to the great gym – seeing all of the different sports bodies was fascinating, from weightlifters to trampolinists. The dining hall was a veritable feast and my body was fuelled perfectly with the constant nutritional greatness!
We have returned to Sheffield and given our coach Jim the task of working the programme to perfection! We are also enjoying working our compulsory dances and looking forward to starting work on an original dance soon.
This past weekend we hosted a party to celebrate Chrissy's 18th birthday. A good time was had by all and I know Chrissy is grateful to her friends for coming.
We hope that this finds you all well and looking forward to the summer.
Warmest wishes,
Mark
