baby steps

Through a few weeks in physical therapy, and walking on my own, I finally received approval from my therapist to bike on a machine.  I went to the gym yesterday and biked for a full 45 minutes! The feeling I had cannot even be described in words.  I'm taking baby steps to recovery, but it sure does feel amazing! I worked on a few core exercises as well.  Not going to lie, my muscles are a bit sore today.  Shows how much lack of muscle I have been using the past 2 1/2 months.

injury status

my injury is finally progressing! I am cleared to slowly and lightly start walking again, and begin physical therapy! this injury has been difficult, both mentally & physically, but this whole situation is only making me a stronger person, and a better athlete!

a visit to the hospital

A few days ago, heading into my allergy doctor to get my monthly allergy shots, my crutches slipped on the office wood floor, and I landed directly on my right side.  This put me in immediate shock, and the pain was unbearable. My mom took me directly to the hospital, where the emergency medical staff reevaluated me.  The pain I was in was so severe, I was almost certain I injured my fracture even more. They put me on morphine, and took a new set of x-rays and CT scans.  I slowly began feeling better, but still could barely move my body.  An orthopedic surgeon was not working until the following day, therefore I needed to stay over night for him to review my results.  I knew I wasn't physically able to be home either, so I was relieved they wanted me to stay at the hospital over night.  The next day, when we finally saw the doctor, he said that I did no further damage to my fracture, I just bothered it a lot! YAYY! This was such a relief!  A few hours later, once I was able to move around more, they released me, and I was able to come home.  I am feeling slightly better, but the pain is now worse from how it was before this hospital incident.  Looks like I'm back to doing absolutely nothing again. Anyone have any good movie or book suggestions?

Unfortunate End to my Season

"What doesn't kill you, makes you stronger."

A quote that I believe is so very true, especially in my current situation.  Unfortunatly my season took a turn for the worst at the Northstar Rev Tour event.  During my first training run, I took a gnarly crash off of a double roller, that ended pretty severly.  I was evaluated the day of the accident with just a concussion, but when I returned to Colorado, my body was still in serious pain.  I thought it was necessary to see a specialist, because I was worried I had retorn my labrum in my hip, which I had surgery on three years ago. The diagnosis was much worse.  I fractured my right hip socket, right pelvis, sacrum, tore cartlidge in my hip, strained my hamstring pretty bad, and sprained my left ankle. I am so very lucky that my crash did not go worse, the doctor said I could have been paralyzed, due to the location of the fractures.  No news like this is good news, but every athlete is involved with bumps along their journey, and this is mine.  My recovery is six weeks on crutches baring no weight at all on my right leg, then once the fractures are completely healed, spending some time in therapy.  Like the quote above, I need to use this recovery time to mentally get myself stable, as well as physically stronger.  I'll be back competing next season, and I am so confident that I will come back stronger then ever! 

The CT scan image of the fracture in my right hip.  The half moon looking-crack to the left of the ball and socket. 

the season in finally here!

After a challenging semester at school, I am finally back in Steamboat! I did very well with my classes, and am very proud of myself.  I worked harder then I ever thought was even possible, and ended the semester with 21 credits and a GPA of 3.8.  With that grueling semester out of the way, it is so awesome to finally be back on my board.
I arrived in colorado the 27th, and have been training hard and riding every day since.  I can already tell this season is going to be a much better season.  I feel so much more confident on jumps, and can tell a huge difference with my carving.  These were the two things I wanted to work on for this season, therefore I'd say I'm on the right track!
Friday (January 11), I head out with part of the team to Northstar, California for the first competition of the season.  I am super stoked for this, and cannot wait to start racing again! I hope the results are much more satisfying then last year!

Heres an amazing view from training starts at Howelson with the team. 

The weather has been so beautiful here.  My first couple days here were gnarly powder days, which was an awesome experience, Michigan isn't known for much powder. I hope this year has a much higher average snowfall then last!

start gate training

Like I have said in previous posts, My dad built me a ramp with a start gate inside one of our barns that I spend a lot of my time training on. Starts are by far one of the most important parts of a race, and since I am not able to train an actual course that often in the summer, having a start gate is very convenient!

warrior dash results

I know I'm late on my post about the warrior dash, but it was by far one of the funnest events I've ever done! The obstacles were so much fun, and I loved getting dirty! My dad and I finished in the top section of the group, which were really stoked about! I defiantly plan on doing another event like this again.