Injuries suck.  They really really do.

My sister Vikki and I recently did a presentation at the Vancounver International Mountain Film Festival centered around the ‘three types of fun’.  Type one fun is fun while you are having it.  Type two fun is fun in retrospect (not super fun while its happening, but you can look back and have a good laugh).  Type three fun is not fun at all.

Injuries are defiantly type three fun.

I have dealt with quite a few debilitating injuries over the years.  Knee surgery at 14, ankle surgery at 20, chronic shoulder impingement that took me out of the game for nearly 3 years, pulled finger tendons, dislocating wrists, hip problems… you name it, I’ve likely had experience with it.

Here I am 6ish years ago not being very patient during the rehab of my ankle

The Kübler-Ross model states that people go through 5 stages of grief when there is loss in their lives.

Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, and finally, Acceptance.

This is usually applied to the loss of a loved one, but has been well documented in sports psychology literature to also apply to athletes who lose the ability to participate in their sport.

For many of my injuries I spent a great deal of time in the depression stage, sitting at home feeling sorry for myself and drowning my sorrows with my mom’s famous Weldon Cookies.   It’s understandable to be upset, but over the years I have learned to really focus on the positives, and stay away from replaying the incident over and over in my mind.  Those ‘what if…’ questions never help.

I moved to Canmore last weekend to start my new job as a Registered Nurse.  On Monday night I went to the climbing gym with a friend and destroyed my ankle.  It’s a pretty rare injury, and is exactly the same thing I did to my other ankle when I was 20.    I was high stepping at a funny angle, pushed to hard, and all those around me heard the sickening sound of soft tissue exploding. I new exactly what it was before I even hit the ground (allowing me to skip the denial stage of grieving).  There is a band of soft tissue on the outside of the ankle that holds two tendons behind the ankle bone called the superior peroneal retinaculum (SPR).  I destroyed this band, and now my tendons painfully flip over the ankle bone when I point my toes.  It needs to be surgically repaired.

Photo from http://skillbuilders.patientsites.com/article.php?aid=124

The tears came pretty quick (depression), as did the F-bombs (anger), not so much from the pain, but from the realization that I had just lost the ability to do most of the things I love.  Biking, climbing, skiing… walking around.  My new skis wont be getting any more loving this winter, and I can say goodbye to my secret agenda to finally get my name on that stupid National Champion Trophy .  Once I got my little self-pity party over with, I put it behind me and decided I was going to get sick strong for routes this summer (not sure yet if this is acceptance or bargaining, but it beats anger and depression any day).

I had a bit of an emotional setback this morning when I learned that it is going to take a month just to get a phone call about booking an appointment with a surgeon.  I instantly started doing the math in my head and realized that I may not be back in action for the summer.  But… I am luckily surrounded by awesome people who are every supportive, and am trying to take things one day at a time.

Positive thoughts… positive thoughts… positive thoughts!!

I can hobble around quite efficiently in my aircast (which I still had stashed away in my closet from last time).  I am able to swim arms only, and I set up a rad circuit at the gym the other night of campusing, rings, hangboard and free weights.

I’ve learned that with injuries it’s really important to keep busy.  I start my new job as an RN on Monday, and am working with my online coach Alli Rainey (www.allirainey.com) to re-organize my training schedule to accomodate for my injury.

My new goal is to be able to do a muscle-up on the rings before I can start climbing again.

So look out world… this is only going to make me stronger.

Straight to work on a new training tool to do “Finger Pullups”  See article written by Alli Rainey http://allirainey.suite101.com/handgrip-strength-training-to-improve-climbing-a178038

Sometimes it’s easy to take climbing too seriously.  We forget that it is supposed to be fun.  I do this every once in a while, and it is usually a result of setting goals that are out of reach, or expecting too much from myself.

I spent the last 10 weeks on the road as a break between finishing nursing school and starting work as an RN in Canmore, Alberta.  After writing my national exam I hightailed it to Kentucky to meet up with my good friends Josh Muller, Regan Kennedy, and Alex Quiring in the Red River Gorge where we spent 5 weeks getting pumped out of our brains.

The Red was such an amazing experience.  I was elated to be done school, and in great shape after training for my first triathlon, and a 120km bike tour that I did with my parents.  It had been years since I was responsibility free, and I was beyond happy to be exploring new places and climbing amazing routes.  I managed to tick 5 amazing 5.13a’s, and spent a lot of time working on my onsighting skills.

After the Red our group (who earned the nickname “Team Noon-4”) moved on to Horse-Pens 40, after stopping in Little Rock city for a day.  I climbed 7 days straight in Horse-Pens.  The climbing was so close to the campsite, and so much fun, I just couldn’t help myself!  Hueco was next on the list, and we made a short stop at Horseshoe Canyon Ranch to break up the drive.

The last time I was in Hueco was 7 years ago with Canadian superstar Thomasina Pidgeon.  It was a great return, and fun to retro-flash classics that had stumped me as a teenager.

My goal for the trip was to tick some double digits. Having only done a handful of V7’s and V8’s, it was an ambitious goal.  Making quick work of McBain, V8, and Fern Roof, (the V9 exit), I was sure I could achieve my goal.

I had jumped on Dark Age V11 for fun, just to check out the moves as we usually warmed up close by, and a few Team Noon-4 members had projects near by.  I put all the moves together within a few sessions, and on the 4th day of work linked all the powerful bottom moves, and was one move away from linking into the V6 section.  Day 5 I was sure the problem would go down, and got totally and utterly rejected.  I couldn’t link any of the moves and tore three tips open.  

I was totally dejected, pissed off and sure I would have to save it for another trip.  I wrote my sister Vikki and email, telling her how crushed I felt, and that I didn’t want to get back on this trip, as I was scared of failing.  She had this to say:

“Remember, that problem will still be there when you get back. It’s not going to change your life if you do it or not. Just enjoy the process and start it with a smile on your face! It’s just a little rock, nothing to be afraid of!  Enjoy the process, give it your all and don’t regret anything!”

I took her message to heart, and while I was still a little bummed that I might not be able to send the route, I was psyched to try.

Even with doubt in my heart, I tried again with no expectations and a big smile on my face. I managed to put all of the powerful bottom moves together, and fell off a move after mixing up my sequence on the upper V6 section (See Spot Run).  It dawned on me that I might actually be able to send the route, but tried not to believe it, as the doubt seemed to be working for me.  I went to sit in the sun to take a breather, gathered up my spotters ten minutes later, and sent.

I guess the moral of this story is: don’t take life so seriously.  When you get shut down, just smile a little bigger.  And, don’t forget to have fun : )

Click here for footage of the send!