What a day, where do I start, today it finally stopped raining, it has been raining for over a week now, but this morning it was below freezing and clear skies, that means a fast track, I was so excited. The international training has started here, so we are in nation groups and flipping the start order each day so today we were off last, and I was last in the NZ order, the track was very fast, Ben did a 58 second down time and Kel pushed a personal best on her first run, finally breaking out of the six second club into the 5 second club, this one hand push is working so well for her, the time spent training here over the US summer with the US team on their push track, ice rink and treadmill has certainly paid off for Kelly. So I pushed off, the two hand push does not feel natural yet, but I can really feel that I am using my legs and pushing hard rather than running along side the sled which is how my one hand push felt last week. The run was pretty rough, I bumped out of 1, and skidded into 3, I took the hit out of 3 and flopped onto 9, I hit left out of 10 and right before 13, the exit of 14 was good, but I skidded out at the end of the chicanes going into 17, I got 18 perfect for once and had a smooth transition onto 19, but did need to drag a toe to avoid hitting the wall at the finish eye, so I thought is was a bumpy run that would be slow, I let out a yell of delight when I saw my time as I whooshed past the clock in
the out run, a personal best down time, 58.77, and a personal best push of 5.82, very nice. Kellys second run was hilarious, she stepped on her sled just before she loaded, landed across her sled, he ribis hitting the saddle at a 90 degrees angle from where she should have been, she wriggled in, and the sled spun 180 degrees, so her feet were heading down the track then she spun 180 degrees back and headed down the track having spun a full circle! The Australian camera guy got it on film and I will try to add it to my website eventually.
Second run, I was keen to go even faster, the run was going good, but in 14 I think I steered a bit harder and later than I usually do, and I did something I never though possible in corner 14, I hit the short wall in side the corner, which sent my flying into the left wall at the exit, I flipped onto my back but managed to flip back onto my runners immediately, then I hit the right chicane in the chicanes straight (a 100m straight section of track, totally flat) and flipped over again, I managed to roll over again but I was off my sled, I had hold of it with one hand but it was way out in front on me, as I was about to go into corner 17 a big sweeping left hander I made a decision to let go, I don’t know if it was a wise decision but I didn’t think I could hang onto it, or if I did I thought I might flip out of 17 again, a split second decision. I stopped half way around corner 17. I was very very shaken up and crying instantly, shaking like a leaf. I have come off my sled before and had some bad injuries, but I was hurting more than ever before this time and the worst pain was coming from my left shoulder, the one which I damaged on a trampoline in April, the one that I have had two cortisone injections in, the one I take painkillers for 3 times a day, the one I have postponed surgery on until after the Olympics. I thought the game was over for me. I thought I had ruined my left should even more and that I would be heading home. I got up very quickly as I thought my sled might come zooming back towards me the wrong way down the track ( I was at the low point in the track) and I didn’t want to get hit by it, I walked back up 17 towards the chicanes straight away, where there are usually people watching, here in Lake Placid they do not have a camera system so someone has to find the athlete when we crash, they do not know where you are, so I knew there would be someone coming to find me. There was no one along the straight, and I walked right the way up it until there is a boardwalk where I could get out, it was probably not even a 1 minute walk but it was a bloody lonely one minute when your hurting, shaking, in shock, I had also hit my head and just wanted to see someone who could help. Two track walkers came running around the corner, they would have seen my sled come across the finish line with out anyone on it and then started looking for me. The ambulance pulled up a minute later. I was really a wreck, crying hyperventilating, shaking and shivering. The pain I could feel made me think I had ruined my shoulder and that I was on my way home, no world cup, no Olympics, no shot at a medal, game over, that is what was upsetting me most.
But once the medic helped me peal off my speed suit, we saw that the shoulder pain was in fact a big ice burn, about the size of my hand red raw and bleeding. I have always wondered how these new speedo speed suits would hold up in a crash, they are so so tight, I thought they might just rip right off, but I have only a few tiny holes, I am lucky I was wearing my icebreaker merino wool top underneath, it has quite a few holes in the shoulders and elbows now but I am sure the ice burn would be so much worse if I had not been wearing it.
We did not dress the burn decided to leave it uncovered to let it heal quickly, the medic gave me her mobile number if I needed any thing more, as going to a medical center here will cost hundreds of dollars. Even though the kiwi team hasn’t got trainers, coaches, physio… the huge support crew that follows most of the successful nations, we manage well and look after each other, and I have a whole team of athletes helping me get sorted getting out of my race gear and getting ice, food, changed, comfortable, painkillers and dressings, they were all wonderful.
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