Battle Field

What a great way to Start the New Year! This is me on January 1st!

Well, this is it! All that talk about 2010 for so many years…and now…it’s all history. In many ways it’s a bizarre feeling looking back at 2010 – but I prefer to look forward and I’m excited to see what 2011 has in store for us all.

The holidays is always a favourite time of year from me. I was lucky enough to have a big family that kept our house filled with the holiday spirit – yes, that manic and hectic kind of spirit of course - is there any other kind? I’m not often with my siblings and family in Ontario so it was great to have time to catch up, chat, and enjoy the holiday treats my Mom made.

To kick off the New Year I skied Mt Baker the morning of the 1st. It was sunny, -2, and no wind made for a perfect morning. It’s days like that when I know, I’m nowhere near finished with this sport. I may be a bit crazy, but, I love it! It was a stark contrast to how I started 2010 – getting pumped with morphine to help me deal with the post-surgery pain.

Let’s just say this January 1^st was better, much, much, better.

Since last January our National Ski Team has been incredibly healthy. Nearly a full year passed without incident or injury. Sadly, that trend changed last week with some teammates going down. Closest to me being Kelly McBroom – lets all send her some healing vibes in Austria! Otherwise, the team seems to be finding its stride – especially on the technical side with personal bests being posted by nearly every athlete. It’s exciting to see new talent emerging!

Thinking back to last year makes me see how far I’ve come. From a dislocated knee with extensive damage to; skiing; lifting; biking; etc. Still, there is more improvement needed for me to be race ready.

I’m now in Calgary and we started the year with a group pow-wow.

I connected with our team doctors and physios to make a plan moving forward. It has become obvious that I will not race this season. Sad news I know, but smarter than trying to rush back and fall short.

With that knowledge, we looked critically at how the knee is doing and our best course of action moving forward. We’ve decided to go with some minor medical intervention as a push to get this knee race ready. Although it’s never desirable to have the docs poke around inside you, we’re all confident this will get me feeling strong heading into summer training.

I have made amazing improvements and was consistently getting better - but our sights are on the World stage. Luckily, I have a world class medical staff around me to get me there.

I’ll remain in Calgary for the month of January making sure every step we take is in the right direction.

In my own way, I’m excited about what lays ahead. I’m a fighter and I see every challenge as a battle field. I’m know I’m winning this battle and there’s no way I’m about to back out of this fight.

Bring it.