Unbelievable Yet True

When I was thinking about how to write this blog I didn’t know where to begin. Just thinking about it as a whole made it seem unbelievable, even I couldn’t wrap it all together. So here it goes, a summary of the last week – the last 2 days being the most…‘exciting’.

We’re all in Cortina, Italy getting set for the DH training runs that were supposed to start on Tuesday. After a dissapointing race in Altenmarkt I was ready to get at it again, with less clutter in my mind and renewed passion in my heart. David also joined me in Cortina on Monday, a very welcomed roomate. I always feel at home when I’m with him, he makes the time on the road much more pleasant.

As many of you already know, plans changed here in Cortina as the snow started to fall. In a matter of two days over 2 metres of snow fell. Finally, we ended up with 1 training run on Friday, DH race on Satruday, GS race on Sunday and a Super G race on Monday. (The second DH race was lost.) In the training run I had a solid, normal run and finished 3^rd. Going into the race I had a clear focus, just ski. I had a good normal run for me but I was a bit dissapointed to see that I finished 9^th. However, I later found out that I’d kicked the wand before leaving the gate, we were able to time this and I lost between 0.30 to 0.45 of a second because of this error. Without this mistake I would have finished between 4^th and 2^nd. My skiing is there, my mind set is there, now I just need to clean up that start (usually my best asset). I think this was the first time in my career I’d kicked the wand, I figured out why I did it and will learn from that mistake. Still, it really bothered me that I made such a silly mistake.

Also, throughout the week the whole team was sick. Half with head and chest colds, the other half with a gastro bug that really took people out for 2 days. In some ways I was lucky to have the head/chest cold. It didn’t completely knock me out.

Sunday was the GS race and while Gen Simard and Marie-Mitchelle Gagnon ripped in up in the race finishing 9^th and 16^th, we were training Super G at a hill nearby. It was soft snow and we were planning for an easy session of 3 to 4 runs, enough to hit some gates and be on our skis. Unfortantely, on my final run in the course, I crashed hard. It happened quickly and it’s hard to say what happened first, hit a rut, ski popped off?... I fell just before heading into a compression and I went down so fast I was unable to brace myself. My face went right into the snow and both my arms were above my head. Both shoulders popped out. The left subluxed for the first time ever, and the right one was out for the duration of the fall then went back in after I got up.

Obviously, the pain from having both shoulders come out was horrific. The pain settled down, although I was shaken up and upset.

The rest of my day was filled with icing and therapy on all the bits that hurt. In the end I had two bad shoulders, a scrapped up face, skiers thumb on the right hand, a pulled adductor, and the next morning I woke up to realize I also suffered some nice wiplash. Oh ya, and I was still sick as a dog and coughing up a lung. The check list of what could go wrong was rediculously high. Still, I had hope I could race. My legs (for skiing movements) and core were fine.

Monday morning started at 6am and David was with me every step of the way. Essentially, David did everything for me that caused pain, other than skiing. My goal was to see if I could get my brain and body to put a run together. There was no pressure from the coaches, if anything it was the opposite. They said they’d support me in whatever I chose to do. Once in inspection, I knew I wanted to run. The track was beautiful and the day was picturesque. Although I drew a later number than I would have liked, 27, everything else made me want to race. As David helped me get ready, boots, suit up, etc., I went to the start. I knew I had a run in me and I was totally committed to that. I saw it as a challenge and a mental exercise, yet even I was in the start hut almost laughing because I couldn’t believe I was there.

And so I raced. I had, for me, a pretty pathetic start but a solid run. I was a bit round in one section that I was a bit nervous about and more tense than I’d usually be, still I finished 20^th. In the finish area I just stood there, bent over, waiting for the pain to subside and my lungs to open up again. Britt (who had a good day finishing 12^th) helped me take my boots off and get me moving again. I had my bib cutt off because my shoulders were too sore to raise. But I did it, and I did it as well as I think I possibly could have. Even now, I can’t believe I raced.

This evening, now in Kirchberg, Dr. Litchfield (who ironically surgically fixed my right shoulder 6 years ago) was here to check them out. I’ll need some x-rays when back in Canada, but for now just rest. I’ll be taking the next few days off, completely off.

Hopefully, next week won’t be quite so eventful.

(Sorry, I chose not to take any pictures of my banged up face and body.) I do have a video of my crash in training…I’ll try and post that on You Tube in the next couple days.

Till next time,

Kelly