Reset

Sometimes, when an entire season seems to be spiraling out of control and you no longer know what to expect next, or how you’ll respond to a given stimulus, you just wish you could hit the “reset” button. Well, you can. It’s just hard to do before everything is finished, because it means walking away and taking a rest - physically and mentally removing yourself from the cycle of trying hard and failing.

Kris has been in that situation a few times - where the only thing that was going to help is a full reset. He was surely there by the end of this season. Most recently before that, he reached that point in 2006. It doesn’t take him long to get his feet back under him and start feeling some positive responses again.

Since Fairbanks Kris has had a little time in the southwest where Julie was performing with her dance company, and then a little time in New York City where Julie lives. She’s recently moved to a new apartment right on central park, and compared to any time Kris has spent in New York in the past, this new set-up is downright pleasant. Kris has been out on roller skis in the park a couple of times, and has already seen his body responding to a new stimulus. His running legs are coming back quickly. He’s not training - not in an organized and purposeful way. He’s focusing on recovery more than anything else. But he’s also finding security in the familiar positive response that his body has to exercise when everything is in its right place.

Before Fairbanks Kris met with people from Omnipod and got set-up with a unit to test. The Omnipod system is a very advanced and compact insulin pump that offers a great deal of flexibility and control. Kris has always resisted going to a pump because of the encumberance, the risk of tubes freezing up, etc. The Omnipod addresses all of these concerns. Kris started using it directly after Fairbanks, and has been quite pleased with the results. There is a learning curve, but he starting with an extremely sophisticated understanding of his own response and he’s learning the tool quickly. He’s also noticing that the inflammation and scarring of his abdomen is started to go away - it’s giving him a great sense of freedom to think that he might not be injecting himself every few hours for the rest of time.

The other big news in Kris’s life is that he’s buying a house. He’s found a condo near Waterville Valley in a perfect location for training, both Summer and Winter. As of yesterday he had a contract on the place and a loan approved. He should be closing before the end of the month. This has been the plan for a while, and has been a source of some anxiety. Kris has never bought a house before, and he likes to be well informed and educated going into a major decision like this. The entire process has unfolded quickly and satisfactorily, and it appears that he’ll have it all buttoned up before the formal training season even starts, which is tremendously good news.

All things told, everything is looking up. The training season will start for real when Kris joins his teammates in Whistler for an on-snow camp for the first couple of weeks of May.

Reset

Kris Freeman

Fri, Apr 18, 2008 - By Zach Caldwell