A month away... and feeling kind of eh?

Less than a month. After the process I’ve been through the last year-plus, it seems hard to believe that wheels up to Milan-Cortina is less than a month away. But here we sit.

My flight to Milan (via Paris) leaves Boston on Feb. 3, so as I write this on Jan. 4, it is indeed less than a month until I fly out though it’s more than a month until the opening ceremony, which takes place on Feb. 6. 

I have to admit, I’ve been struggling a bit lately. The holiday tournament schedule kind of wiped me out and as we prepare to get back to regularly-scheduled regular season action every night, I am not really feeling it. Most days I just want to go home and go to bed. That, however, would not be terribly productive. 

Traditionally I am always excited as time ticks down toward the Olympics. I go through schedules and look at all the information I can find trying to see what I’m going to do or what I have to look forward to. I haven’t really done that this time. Maybe it’s a lack of time, maybe it’s just laziness. I am not really sure. Last week I filled out my arrival and departure information on the Milan-Cortina online portal and also put my pertinent information in the accommodation management system so the hotels where I am staying have the proper information. So I have done the stuff that’s necessary but I don’t seem to be excited about it yet.

Maybe it’s because I know this Olympics will be different. I am not going to get the chance to see all the venues and all the different sports like I have at the last three Winter Olympics I’ve been to. The spread out nature of Milan-Cortina make that impossible, so I had to decide where I would be most effective. I booked a hotel in Milan for my first few days, which should allow me to see a little hockey and maybe some speed skating or figure skating (and if I get a ticket, the Opening Ceremony). 

From there, I will have to make a long train trip to Cortina and onward to my accommodations in the mountains, which are between Cortina and Antholz, which is where biathlon will be taking place. I assume that I will have at least one athlete competing in the biathlon but I will also get to see events in Cortina, which include women’s alpine (Lindsey and Mikaela for the win), curling and the sliding sports. And there will be a chance to get to Pedrazzo, where the cross country and ski jumping are taking place (would really like to see Jesse Diggins in her final Olympics), but beyond that, it will be impossible to see everything.

The men’s alpine is taking place in Bormio and the freestyle skiing is taking place in Livigno, neither of which is easily accessible from Cortina, so I am kind of stuck and that disappoints me a little. Maybe that’s the thing that’s bumming me out heading to takeoff time, but I’m not sure.

That being said, I am pretty sure as January presses on I will get a little more excited for the trip and I know for a fact I will be ready to get away from everything for a few weeks. That is always the case. 

I also have a feeling this may be my final Olympic experience (nothing is set in stone, but something tells me this may be it) and that is a bit of a bummer too. Obviously as the years go on, working both jobs full time probably won’t be feasible in order to pay for the trips and getting credentials is never a guarantee (the wait list for Milan was definitely a surprise after covering five Olympics). 

Milan-Cortina is coming and I will be there. And I will enjoy it. 


The final scene from my last Winter Olympics, as the Beijing Games closing ceremony came to an end. Milan-Cortina will be here in a month.

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