If my season went according to plan this year, I would be in Sheffield, England right now preparing for the short-track speedskating world championships. Instead, I'm at home in Calgary.

As much as we plan and prepare for each season, there are always variables we can't control. Such as falling hard into the mats and getting a concussion, which is exactly what happened to me for the second time this season.

I can't believe a year has already passed since I walked into the opening ceremony at B.C. Place in Vancouver last February.

I can still remember the chills I had before walking out in front of the crowd, and the amount of pride I felt to be wearing red and white with "Canada" on my back. I felt my childhood dream of competing at an Olympic Games coming true right before my eyes and all I thought to myself was, savour this moment!

I'm still recovering from the Canadian short track trials last weekend. As expected, I experienced a rollercoaster of emotions as I competed for the right to represent Canada at the upcoming World Cup stops and the world championships.

Going into the last day, I was behind in points and needed to skate well in the 1000-metre race. It was hard not to think of all the outcomes the night before, and I didn't get a great sleep, but one thing my sister emailed me stuck out in my head.

Last weekend, the Canadian trials for long track speed skating were held at the Olympic Oval in Calgary. I enjoyed watching the races because they gave me the urge to get out there and race myself.

I won't have to wait long, as the Canadian short track trials are coming up in a week.

I've experienced many ups and downs since I last wrote a blog, which was shortly after the Olympics.

After a nice, long off-season during which I did some traveling, I felt like I was on my way back into shape in August when I fell during a practice and ended up with a concussion.

At first, sleeping in and resting was nice, but after about a week I realized how much I missed pushing the limits everyday.

Last time I wrote, we were about to start the most important and last set of short track World Cups this season. I am happy to report that for the most part, everything went well and the Canadian girls accomplished what we needed to do, qualifying three spots in every distance for the 2010 Olympics.

For the last three weeks I’ve been training in Montreal with the team that is based here. As I am the only member on the Olympic team this year who normally trains in Calgary, I decided, with my coach, that it would be good for my skating and the team for me to come early to train here before the World Cups.

Our team recently returned home from the first set of short-track speedskating World Cups that were held in Beijing and Seoul.

Everything has been kind of a whirlwind since writing my last blog about making the Olympic team, but things are finally starting to settle in now and I am enjoying every moment as much as I can.

Amateur athletes in Canada are usually popular only once every four years, so we need to take advantage of that fact when we can. But with this winter's Olympics taking place in Canada, the media coverage seems to be better then ever. It’s exciting to see some of my teammates in commercials every time I turn on the TV, and the sports section full of updates about other athletes.

I was hoping I'd have good news for this blog… and it turns out that I do!

We just finished our Olympic trials a couple days ago, and I am relieved and excited to say that I officially made the short track team for the Vancouver Olympics in 2010.