ok, I wrote this back in June and thought I posted it. haha. oops!
after about a decade of riding, I finally got injured. no bueno!
how? being overly confident. haha. jk. I didn't even hit a jump. I tried to do a jump off the snow on the right side of a triangle thingy and took it wayyyy too fast, got hella air, got scurred and landed wrong. crazy thing is, I wasn't even gonna hit that. I was gonna go off the box to the right of it. shoulda, coulda but didn't. :-\ I didn't even hear a pop or anything but when I stood up and tried to carve, I knew something was wrong. my left knee buckled and it felt like it popped outta place. I tried to take it slow, carved and it popped back into place. so I kept going but it buckled again. a few more times. ouch! it was the weirdest thing I've ever felt.
Justin riding down at the top
luckily, I was only about a hundred yards from the bottom of the mountain. I was following Justin, Rachel's son, down cuz he was so excited to go back up the lift again to ride. Rachel, goose and Jalen, Rachel's other son, were still up in the terrain park for the GHG award ceremony. when I got to the lift, Justin kept wanting to go, go, go! he kept asking, can we go now, can we go now? rare occasion, really. I was super sad cuz I couldn't go with him. I unstrapped and tried to walk. my knee buckled and popped back into place, AGAIN! fack! at this point, I'm thinkin', this is my first season in Utah, it's only the beginning and I'm already injured. wtf?! no!!! why??? :-(
Jalen rockin' the GHG tee
I was really hesitant to go to the first aid building cuz I was scared it'd be hella bad. but I went anyways. it even took me a while to have them take x-rays cuz I really, really didn't wanna know how bad it was but I ended up getting em done. good news, no broken bones! :-) there was an orthopedic doc on site so he did a bunch of physical knee tests. final conclusion: grade 2, slight mcl tear. no surgery needed, yes! however, some physical therapy and no snowboarding for 4-6 weeks. sad!
sucky thing, my friend goose was in town and we were supposed to ride at snowbird the next day. wasted a hundred bucks on prepaid nonrefundable lift tix. blah! guess it was better than causing more injury. I wouldn't have lasted one run anyways. another friend Adam was also visiting the next week. no riding then either. lame! :-(
goose, Jalen and Justin. the boys got hats from the greenhorn games.
dinner at nypd pizza in Layton. I was hella struggling just to walk in. :-\ happy to eat though. :-) we were starving!
goose, Rachel and I
Adam and I at the bowling alley. I couldn't even bowl. sad!
it was a rough month or so after, walking and going up and down stairs. wearing a brace didn't make it any easier. it took me about a month to be brave enough to get back on the mountain. when I did, I was super scared! don't worry, I wore a knee brace. :-) it wasn't as bad as I thought. it actually felt great! the only time my knee would hurt was when I extended or bent it all the way. or if I walked on it all day. and when you ride, you keep your knees bent for the most part. I was just hella happy to get back on the mountain! :-) and I DID stay off the jumps for a bit. hehe...
hella happy to be back in the mountain. @pow mow sundown
gorgeous evening
cousins, Madeline and Ronna. and hank in the red jacket in the back cuts.
I stopped doing physical therapy at the end of April. way longer than I expected. the injury happened back in December.
to this day, my knee still isn't 100%. who knows if it every will be. doesn't help that I walk on concrete/hard floors all day at work. still occasionally hurts sometimes when I extend or bend it all the way. I'm still careful with it but def doesn't keep me from doing what I want. I'm back to hitting some jumps. :-) ride or die, son! :-P and I went hang gliding. and hiking. and plan on doing more stuff like rock climbing, wake boarding, long boarding, etc. :-)
btw, this wasn't the best of seasons, so I didn't miss out on too much. actually, the locals say one of the worst and they joke, what a great year to move here, you shoulda stayed in Seattle. haha. I've seen worse in Washington so I wasn't complaining too much. :-) I made the most of it and had a great time! it is what it is and we can't change the weather, right? we surely can do some snow dancing though. :-)
pow mow sundown
for more pix, check out my fb...
pow mow 2012 and
other albums
update 9.18.12: my knee feels way better than it did when I was doing therapy. wondering if all that pt was a waste of time. sheesh! guess I'll never know... it doesn't hurt when I extend or bend it all the way anymore. it'll just get a lil sore every now and then but not as bad as before. yay! excited for this upcoming winter season! :-)
