Sharpen Your Elbows

Up until this summer, I had never broken a bone, but in the last six months, I've managed to break both of my elbows. I wish the injuries had cooler stories to go with them, but I won't sugar coat it. I broke one trying to unclip out of my bike pedals in May and I broke the other while walking across a parking lot on Monday. I don't usually take too many falls on skis and I think of myself as a pretty coordinated person, but I realize flukes like this happen and that there are always ways to come out stronger.  Gus and I were heading out for a run Monday afternoon and about twenty feet from the car, we were walking and a low-hanging cable clotheslined me at the ankles so I went elbow to pavement hard. It was pretty apparent that something wasn't right very quickly, so Gus drove me to the ER. They checked me out Monday afternoon and Dr. Olson and his team brought me in for surgery Tuesday afternoon at the Park City Hospital. I'm extremely grateful for how quickly they got me in and how kind everyone I interacted with was.

Post-tumble trip to the hospital. Matt was intent on documenting it. Gus, Matt, and Simi put in their fair share of hospital hours and thanks to them, I think I spent most of my time in there laughing.

The hardware

By Tuesday evening, I had some new hardware and between the anesthesia and pain meds was feeling pretty great about life. The few days following were a little more painful, but my teammates and friends have been incredible. When I came home from the hospital, my room had been transformed into a candy shop complete with cards, flowers, and the most candy I've ever had sole possession of in my life. The last couple days the pain has subsided and I've been able to go for some hikes of my own and watch some of my teammates' training sessions. My followup appointment is in ten days and hopefully at that point I will be put in a movable and removable cast that will make activities like running, one-armed skiing, showering, and wearing shirts with sleeves a little easier. The doctors predict six weeks recovery. That's a long time, but it was a pleasant surprise since that's the same time frame as my other elbow that didn't need surgery. I haven't made any concrete plans about going to Canmore or Europe yet, but I'm going to do whatever it takes to recover as quickly as possible by mid-November.

Hike up to the top of Deer Valley

Mary, Jessie, Annie, and Zuzana joined me for a hike the other day and Annie even brought her own sympathy spongebob

Sadzarue skating her way up Hermode's at SoHo yesterday

Snow outside of our condos this morning!

Sadie psyched to do some treadmill testing

It's been so nice having Parker close by 

Catching some fresh air while watching the training session yesterday (Matt Whitcomb photo)

Grateful to have our awesome PT and friend, Zuzana, here with us

Before the elbow incident happened, I was able to enjoy a fun week out west. Simi and I went to the desert for a few days before camp started. It was my first time to the desert, and I had never seen anything like it. When we returned to Park City, the USST girls hosted a Fast and Female. We had a huge turnout with a lot of little smiling girls running around.

I was in charge of the red group (9 year olds)

Fast and Female stamps ( Sarah Brunson photo)

Huge turnout ( Sarah Brunson photo)

Sarah Brunson photo

Mtn Bike station!

My red group girls practicing their speed skating

Canyoneering through Moab

Welcome to the desert!

Simi's mom, Ruthie, joined us for a day of canyoneering and showed me the ropes (literally)

The prettiest campsite in  Utah and my trusty Injinji toe socks 

Running up the porcupine trail

And wading through a lot of freezing cold water

Thank you so much for all the wonderful notes of support I've received. Breaking my elbow was tough, but it could always be worse, and being surrounded by so many loving people makes it a lot easier.