Golden

October 2017- Denver, CO

I had landed at DIA late last night after spending the last two weeks in Europe training. Because it was such a late arrival, I had convinced Nate to stay at his place and get some sleep before his home opener. He agreed, but only on the condition that Graham picks me up instead of an Uber. So, Graham dropped me off at my downtown loft last night before going back to Nate’s place. The NBC camera crew would be here any minute. It was only 6 am, but they didn’t want to miss any part of my day apparently.

The buzzer for my door rang, so I walked over to let them in. I was dressed in navy blue Nike Leggings and a long-sleeved white tee with a grey Nike vest on. By the time they were all set, it was 6:30. I made my smoothie while they filmed and then texted Nate that the film crew was going. He had already approved everything and all of the girls agreed they were fine with the cameras following me in the box as long as they weren’t interviewed or anything like that.

I looked into the camera and started explaining what was going on “So my morning usually looks something like this. I’ll make a fruit and yogurt smoothie and then head to the gym or the slopes, depending on where I’m at. Since I’m in Denver today, we’re gonna head out and meet my trainer Liam and he’s going to put me through a good workout.”

Driving to the gym only took about fifteen minutes. Having the go pros suction cupped to my windows and filming me was a little unnerving though. On my drive, the producer asked me questions. Some about why I had places in Denver and Vail and others about my training regimen and injury recovery.

The gym I worked out of in Denver was built by a former professional athlete and was used mostly by professional, college, and high school athletes. There was a decent lifting space, turf for sled pulls and other conditioning, a basketball court, batting cages and a recovery room. The recovery room was fully equipped with a cool tub, hot tub, stem setup, and physical therapy tables. When we walked in, it was pretty empty. Liam greeted me and I dropped my bags in the corner, mostly ignoring the camera and going about my usual routine I switched out shoes and stripped my jacket, vest, and long-sleeved shirt before throwing on a tank top. Liam walked me through some static warm-ups and then it was on. I worked my way through a series of deadlifts, squats, lunges, pull ups, weighted sled pulls, resistance band moves, box jumps and battle ropes. Liam’s yelling echoed through the mostly empty training center. I finished the workout with a three-mile cool down jog on the treadmill. I’m sure I was quite the sight for the cameras after that workout. I took a seat on the turf strip, sweat running down my surely red face and downed the lemon-lime Gatorade that Liam tossed to me.

I finally pulled myself together and wandered into the recovery room with my bag and phone in hand. Before the cameras followed me in, I changed into Nike pro spandex shorts and kept my Nike sports bra on. The crew came in when I opened the door and I headed to the cool tub first. I submerged myself and put my phone on speaker, calling Nate since he would be on his way to Pepsi Center for the morning skate. Our usual routine was for me to call while I was in the cool tub after morning workouts. He was usually up but not at the rink so it worked well in the early days of the season thus far. They had won two of their first three games. All of which had been on the road.

“Hey, My. You in the cool tub.”

“Yeah. This morning’s workout was rough. I’m definitely going to be feeling it tomorrow. You on your way to morning skate?”

“I am. I just picked up Tyson.”

“Sounds good babe. I’m excited to watch you play tonight. I’ll see you for the pregame meal at your place?”

After confirming our plans, Nate hung up. My timer went off and I pulled myself out of the cool tub as the physical therapist walked in. She promptly directed me to one of the training benches and hooked my knee up to stim. After my accident, my upper back and neck got some attention too, so while the stim was running on my knee, the physical therapist massaged and stretched my neck and upper back before dry needling the area to release the muscles. 15 more minutes were spent in the hot tub before I showered and headed back to my apartment.

Back at home, I heated up some premade lunch before being asked by the producer if I made my own food.

“So I actually hire a chef that makes a week’s worth of meals for me according to my nutrition plan and boxes them so all I have to do is heat them up. It makes things easier since I don’t always have the time or patience. And most of this food tastes much better than the plain food I would be making to stay within my nutrition plan. I would make chicken, veggies, and rice and maybe supplement the chicken with salmon every once in a while. It gets old fast.”

After lunch, I took the crew into the living room of the apartment so that I could watch some film of my form over the last few months of training. I talked through what I was looking at, what I was looking for, and how often I watched film. It wasn’t long before we were done and it was nearing 2 pm. I needed to change and get over to Nate’s in the next hour or so for his pregame meal. Walking through the hallway, the producer wanted to know about some of the pictures I had up. Most were me with various trophies and medals over the years of my ski career. None of the trophies were on display in this loft since my Vail house held all of them.

I pointed to one of my favorites. “This is the first time I won a world cup event.”

Then I pointed out another “This is Lindsey and me at the Ryder Cup. She really took me in as a younger skier and helped me grow quite a bit. Cheering on the US in an event outside of skiing was a lot of fun.”

Of course, the producer asked about two specific pictures. One of Nate and I in Cole Harbor with my legs wrapped around his middle and arms around his shoulder as he gave me a piggyback ride me back inside, sweaty after a workout and both Andy and Sidney are visible in the background laughing. The other was me with all of the MacKinnon’s before we went for dinner in Vail.

“Those are from this summer actually. My boyfriend and I trained together some this summer when I was visiting him, so that’s the first one. The other is him and I with his family at my house in vail before we went out to dinner one night.”

Of course, the producer couldn’t just leave it at that. “How does Nathan feel about you potentially competing against Canada in the Olympics. He represents them in some IIHF events. Will he be wearing team USA gear to cheer you on?”

I laughed “I don’t think he will ever wear Team USA gear, but he’ll be cheering for me in the events I’m competing in and for Canada in the ones I don’t.” I paused for a second and looked straight into the camera with a smirk. “His mom Kathy will wear team USA gear if I give her some though.”

I headed over to Nate’s to join him for his pregame meal. The producers just let us be and run with whatever we gave them. When I let myself into his house, Duke bounded up to me and licked my face in greeting. After giving him attention for a few minutes, the both of us headed into the kitchen where Kathy was plating up pasta and chicken. Nate wandered down the stairs dressed in his game-day suit. He kissed me before sitting down and eating. Kathy, Graham and I talked about my upcoming trip to Europe on Saturday, skiing, and the start of Nate’s season while he scarfed down his meal occasionally adding in comments about his road trip and upcoming schedule.

I realized that it was a really domestic scene that a lot of people wouldn’t expect if they knew me at 18. Not that that is a bad thing, but it definitely made me think.

I was in yet another pair of ripped black jeans with a maroon Nike funnel neck hoodie on. I would look slightly underdressed compared to the other WAGs in the suite tonight, but I was fulfilling my sponsorship well by wearing Nike gear throughout my day on camera. After Nate left for the Pepsi Center, the Kathy, Graham and I shared a round of drinks and then I sat down with the producer for a quick interview before we headed to Pepsi Center ourselves.

“So you are in Denver for Nathan’s home opener. Do you get nervous watching him play?”

“Not as much as I expected to. I think I get more frustrated watching him when things don’t go well because I know how that feels as an athlete. And when things are going well, I’m happy for him because the feeling that winning provides is unlike anything else. I’m hoping the both of us will have successful seasons and have more ups than downs this year. For me, last year was really disappointing. I wasn’t able to do as much as I wanted and I’m going to have to grind to make this season successful and get to the Olympics. I think Nate’s season last year was a lot like mine, minus the big injury. He was disappointed and I think this year will be a lot better for him and the Avs.”

“So after tonight, where are you headed?”

“I’ll be in Denver until Saturday and then I will be headed back to Europe to get more training in since there’s not good snow in the Rockies yet. I’m only back to support Nate on opening night and Friday before I head out.”

We wrapped up the interview and I rode to Pepsi Center with Graham and Kathy. Nate would drive me home and probably stay at my place tonight. Having cameras on me as we navigated through Pepsi Center was strange. The three of us stepped into the WAGs suite and Mel immediately spotted me.
“Myers! You’re here!”

Mel and I talked for a while about Gabe’s proposal and both of our summers. We had been following each other on social media, so we knew some of what happened, but not all of it. I had been mostly silent on social media over the summer, only posting some pictures of places I’d been and skiing rather than pictures of Nate and I. I knew that after this NBC episode aired, everyone would know about Nate and me, so I wouldn’t be as hesitant to post pictures of him and I that I had kept to myself.

By the time the puck dropped, I was sitting next to Kathy and Graham, intensely following the game. Some of the girls continued their conversations, and I didn’t mind the conversation itself but I wanted to focus on the game. These two games would be the last ones I saw in person until late December.

At intermission, a couple of the wives came over to catch up. By the end of the game, the camera crew definitely had a few good clips of me celebrating, as the Avs won 6 to 3. We all stayed and chatted a bit before heading down to the lounge outside the locker room. The lounge was filled with it being the home opener. Blake Comeau’s daughters ran around and played with Jonathan Bernier’s son. Players finally began emerging and heading out with their respective families. When Nate came out, both Graham and Kathy congratulated him on the win before heading home themselves.

When his attention shifted to me, I leaned up and kissed him fairly chastely. Nate, however, had other ideas and deepened the kiss. We finally broke apart when Tyson and the rookies began catcalling. I knew my face was bright red and Nate only laughed at me before wrapping his arm around me and leading me out the door, cameras trailing us. I waved over my shoulder to the boys as we walked out.

The camera crew finally left once Nate and I arrived at my place downtown. The both of us wound up in my room celebrating the first home win of the season behind closed doors.