In my lifetime I have had many many invisible aches, pains, and wounds. It's always disappointing to me though when I can tell people what I am feeling, but have nothing to show for it. I remember after the accident I was in almost 2 years ago (http://lasagneslife.blogspot.ca/2011/05/perspective.html) I was actually ecstatic that I had a giant bruise I could show people from my seatbelt. The extent of my injuries went far beyond that, but having that to show almost made it feel more ok to be hurting.
This morning I woke up and found a large bruise on my elbow...and it made me smile. A long time ago I had a doctor who told me that it was probably not a good idea to try downhill skiing, because I have really bad knees. For years I listened to everyone's amazing skiing stories, and watched exhilarated looks as they told them. I always just thought I'd be ok sticking to the cross country skiing that I know and love, and never feel the desire to try downhill. Last year though, that changed. One of the families that I work for owns a cabin on a ski hill close to the Bigger City, and I had the opportunity to watch their girls up there a few times. Being up there, watching all of these people ski by looking like they were having the time of their lives, made me really want to try it one day. In the back of my mind I was hearing my doctor say no, but a lot has changed since then, I can do much more before my knees hurt, and it really feels like they are stronger than ever, so I began to justify my reasons to ignore that counsel. It looked like fun, and I was going to do it! Then I chickened out, and purposefully didn't make time for it.
This year I have been at the cabin 6 times, and each time felt my desire to try downhill growing. Last night I arranged with a couple of friends to head up the mountain for a 10 dollar Friday trip. Armed with the knowledge that I was new at this, and having no idea what they were getting into, they chose skiing over tubing as our activity for the evening. I was nervous, scared, and thrilled beyond belief, all at the same time!
I was feeling pretty good as we rode the gondola to the village to buy our tickets. That good feeling left the minute that we started the rental process haha. All of a sudden the enormity of what I was about to do began to hit me. As I got strapped into my boots, realized that my feet were entirely immobilized, and I could barely walk I started feeling sorry for my friends. But I walked out of there feeling confident enough to try it at least! As we walked out into the snow the boys gave me a crash course on the basics, I put on my skis, and I was off...for about 15 feet until I ended up on the ground. I had forgotten to do up my helmet, so it landed about 5 feet away from me. Fail!
At that point I realized how difficult it is to stand up without the use of your ankles! As the night continued I got better at it, but that first time took a lot of trial and error. I had lost what little confidence I had that this was a good idea with that first fall, and the next thing staring at me was a large metal tunnel. Convinced I was going to run into it and really hurt myself, and amid instructions of 'make your skis look like a pizza slice', 'don't forget to turn', 'stand like you are taking a poop', and my personal favourite 'just, whatever you do, don't think!' I went again...and crashed again. But I didn't hit the tunnel! The night pretty much continued on like that, so I won't bore you with the details. I did a lot of sliding on my behind. I hit my head pretty good twice (thank goodness for that helmet!). I learned that my feet could twist around the opposite way from my legs, and somehow not break! I even managed to throw one of my skis off my foot on one of my falls. Sometime in the night I hit my elbow bad enough to get the bruise that I found this morning. I did manage not to run into anything though! I finished off the hill after an hour and a half with a pretty impressive run around the last corner, and down to the bottom (one of the guys said I went about 70 feet...it felt like it was further, but I'll take his word for it) before I crashed. That one hurt though, because I was going the fastest I had all night. I successfully navigated the chair lift, and managed to make it from the lift to about 10 feet from the rental shop without falling once! I decided to take the skis off before pushing it and not being able to say that haha.
So, in summary, it was a very painful and humbling experience full of laughter, and memories I will never forget! I am so grateful for the patience that my friends had with me, even though spending an hour and a half on one run down the bunny hill probably wasn't how they pictured their fun evening of skiing. I learned that downhill skiing isn't really for me, although I'm not going to say that I'll never go again...just probably not for a very very long time. I also learned that I will have to marry someone who can teach our children downhill...I'll teach x-country happily!
A sore, and banged up, but happy
Z
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