31 December 2008

I’m not sure how many days I’ve had on snow at this point but it’s getting close to double digits. It’s crazy to think that I have had less than 10 days on snow and January is tomorrow. I guess that’s how it goes.

This week has been one of my best weeks yet। I got into gates for the first time since last year on Monday. I didn’t ski the whole course and I sure didn’t ski well, but I did it and I was pleased with that. At this point, I don’t have high expectations with training but it feels good to do it. I was extremely sore after my efforts Monday but a day off and some Advil fixes a lot.

Today we had Super G training and I was reluctant to go out। Speed skis are not exactly the easiest to ski and I wasn’t sure if I could even control them, let alone turn them। Thanks to a great tune by a local guy Bob, and some previous experience, I had no issues. I had the best day I’ve had all year! I wasn’t laying down clean arcs and ripping it up, but I was going fast, feeling the snow, and skiing Super G! I was SO happy when I came off the mountain today. Thanks goodness for small miracles and great tunes!

Ski Spec 2008

Monday and Tuesday were the first races of the season for the disabled circuit. Since I’m not skiing right now I obviously didn’t race. I wasn’t sure logistically if I could get to the hill to watch the SL so I waited for some reports from my teammates and concluded that I definitely would go over and watch the GS. I was able to take the chairlift up and down so I didn’t have to walk around on the snow too much. Unfortunately it was very cold, I think the high of the day was 18 degrees F, but the sun was out and there was racing. I could see quite a bit of the course from the bottom, so I hung out in the finish area and cheered on my teammates. I know at least a few people appreciated me being there and that felt good. It was hard to watch and not race, but I’ll be back soon… I hope.

Below is a photo of me with two of the Disabilities Without Boundaries scholarship recipients; Stephanie Jallen, and Meghan Erickson. We couldn’t grab the third recipient Danelle D'Aquanni Umstead, USADA had her occupied. The other photo is me and my friend/ teammate Mary Riddell after her first race back in like 5 years.

It was nice to be surrounded by happy smiling faces, way to go ladies!

Still Fighting

I’m STILL working on trying to figure out how to get my body to work again. I’m going to physical therapy once a week, seeing different physicians and just trying to get it figured out. It’s tough now that we actually have some decent snow to not be out on the hill. The crazy part is that I was ski racing for months (maybe years) with my hip not in the socket properly and now that it’s all fixed up I’m worse off than I was the day before my surgery. I KNOW I needed this surgery and it wasn’t an option, but now I just want my body back.

The first races of the season are next week but for the first time since 2003 I won’t be starting. That's hard emotionally but I know there are worse things in life other than not being able to ski race.

I’m trying to be smart and take care of my body rather than beat it up. I haven't skied since opening day and I'm hoping the extra time off snow will pay off, maybe just maybe things are about to turn around. It'd be so nice to be back to work on the ambulance and back out in sun and the snow skiing. I'm not holding my breath, but I'm hopeful.