2026 U.S. Nationals - St. Louis!

[Debbie S]

At the airport for my flight home. My Uber driver described in vivid detail how her kids are sick with the flu and were up all night puking. I guess I shouldn't have asked her how she was. Glad I had a mask on. At least she found the hotel and got me here without taking me into the next state.

But anyway, it was a great week of skating! Nats is always my favorite event....hard to believe it's been 25 years since I attended my first one in 2001 (this year was my 16th). While there are always heartbreaking moments, esp in an Olympic year (Jason... ), it is always a joy to watch skaters give their best performances and feed off the energy in the arena. The final groups of women, dance and men (except Jason ) put this Nats up there with the best....thank you, skaters!

Now back to the real world for a few more weeks, and then Milan!

 

[Spareoom]

This was my first skating competition in many years and first domestic event (I'd say first event ever, but I did attend a 4CC's in Taipei years ago); I have to say, skating fans are so nice! Everyone was so polite and easy to navigate with/around in the arena, at the hotel and walking in the city. I'm not an overly outgoing person and I found myself having conversations with literally everyone I sat next to, walked with, etc. Also as a female attending alone, I appreciated that it was easy to find clusters of people to walk back to the hotel with.

The skating was also great! Jason broke my heart but there were so many good moments as well.