Red, White & Trending: Oct. 13-19

What are Team USA athletes — Olympians, Paralympians and hopefuls — up to when they're not competing? They're training. They're practicing. They're traveling to competitions and meets and games and tournaments. They're relaxing. They're getting engaged and married and having children. They're taking hard-earned vacations. Or retiring. Or coping with the raw emotions that come from losing and winning. And they're sharing. Through the reach of social media, we're able to follow along on their often extraordinary journeys. We'll catch you up each week on what's "Red, White & Trending."

Happy 40th, Bode

Congratulations are in order not only for Bode Miller, who turned 40 on Oct. 12, but also his wife and everyone else involved in pulling off a fairly epic effort that appeared to bring the Olympic alpine skiing legend to tears.

#Gratitude

Among the many, many things Team USA does well, let’s not forget how well this country’s elite athletes do gratitude. Few can tap into the struggles that come with the grind of a life spent working toward becoming the singular best at something while hundreds or thousands of the very best athletes from around the world are doing the exact same thing. So, when the opportunity comes along, Team USA rarely misses an opportunity to appreciate the good times — and the hard times, and the missed holidays and families, and the grueling workouts when no one, absolutely no one, is watching.

For Olympic alpine skier Laurenne Ross, that means a lot of gratitude from Chile …

Sled Heads

National. Team. Trials. The words can hang over the heads of Team USA’s hopefuls, but, oh, to make a team. This past week, USA Bobsled & Skeleton named its women’s bobsled national team for the upcoming 2017-18 season, which included Olympic hopeful Lauren Gibbs and 2014 Olympic bronze medalist Jamie Greubel Poser. The duo whipped up this priceless video prior to heading to PyeongChang for more training …

And, again, more gratitude.

Overall, the team is also headlined by two-time Olympic medalist Elana Meyers Taylor, along with Brittany Reinbolt, who earned the third women’s pilot spot on the team, plus Maureen Ajoku, Aja Evans, Gibbs, Briauna Jones, Kehri Jones and Lolo Jones — and a good number of their reactions via social made for internet bliss.

Olympic hopeful Ajoku also set a record along the way …

And, just like that, they’re off …

Don’t Forget These Guys

Team USA’s men, on the other hand, are baaaaaccccckkkk …

The Skeleton Crew

USA Skeleton also named its national team this past week, with a dozen athletes taking another step toward PyeongChang, including 2014 Olympic bronze medalist Matt Antoine and the now un-retired John Daly, who finds himself on a comeback trail he hopes leads to his third Olympic Winter Games …

The week also brought with it some bittersweetness for Daly and Antoine, who had trained and raced for years with Kyle Tress, who himself announced his retirement after 16 years this past week.

And if you can set yourself into what it means to be teammates on a small crew that races in the often far-flung and most wintry of places — the long road trips, stuffing gear into small vans in frigid weather, waking up at all hours to travel to the next remote European stop or taking up residence in Lake Placid, New York, all chasing precious Olympic dreams — you can almost feel all that goes into these two priceless hugs that marked a final ride.

Big Deal In The Big Apple

Here’s one way to slow down Paralympic legend Tatyana McFadden, who, after winning another Chicago Marathon a few weeks ago, will soon be racing in the New York City Marathon on Nov. 5 …

Support Club

There will not be a repeat champion in Major League Baseball. On Thursday night, the Dodgers advanced past the Cubs in Game 5 of the National League Championship Series with a 4-1 series win — with Chicago’s lone win in the series coming on a start by the Beijing Games bronze medalist Jake Arrieta. Arrieta did what he could. So, too, did Olympic basketball champion and 2015 WNBA MVP Elena Delle Donne, who certainly got into the spirit of things as the series was underway …

Holiday Bonus

Best day of the year at the Johnson East house?

Simply The Best

Established in 1974, the Women's Sports Foundation continues to play a positive role in so many athletes’ lives. This past week, the foundation held a start-studded gala, the Women’s Sports Foundation Annual Salute to Women in Sports, which brought together so many talented Team USA athletes who helped fill some timelines with thoughtful posts and photos from the event.

’Tis The Season

Too early for Halloween? Not so, says six-time Paralympic swimming medalist Becca Meyers.

On Edge In Switzerland

When you’re an Olympic silver medalist freeskier, balance comes in handy. Particularly where Gus Kenworthy was exploring in and around and above Zurich.

Season’s Greetings

Over the summer, one of the bigger NBA free agent pick-ups was Boston acquisition of Gordon Hayward, but, when he suffered a gruesome leg injury only a few minutes into the league’s season, Twitter lit up with reaction to the play. Perhaps the most poignant, though, came from the two-time Olympic gold medalist and now retired Kobe Bryant:

Wedding Bells

Kudos to Olympic bronze medalist steeplechaser Emma Coburn, who went quite the distance in getting married this past week in Hawaii.

Next up in the wedding walk?

Quick Conversation

Just a couple of the fastest humans in history. And … “Yup! …”