Sunshine, please

My life has been a bit of a roller coaster lately, and not exactly in a thrilling, can't-wait-to-ride again kind of way. Jokingly a few weeks back, Adam said to me, "when it rains, it pours" and even I had to laugh at that.

I first punched my ticket on this coaster back in December when my knee started to act up, likely from a change in bike position or new run insoles. But, it seemed to settle down quickly and I was off to Maui, excited to get the season started. On day 3 into the camp was the crash, leaving me with a broken clavicle and wrist, and a very banged up body. No big deal, bones will heal, so let's keep moving. This is when the storm clouds moved in and the drizzle began. To sum it up and end an already cheezy analogy, my knee pain returned, manifesting itself in every possible form over the next couple of months, leaving me a confused and emotional wreck. At times swimming with a one-armed splint and one flipper became the highlight of my day. Finally an MRI diagnosed it as quadricep tendonitis that likely developed into other knee issues as I did my best to keep my achy body moving after the crash. The good news is that I have narrowed it down to the one problem and have a plan in place to heal this up.

I found a few "silver linings" to this injury:

1) Appreciation. I have an enormous amount of appreciation for what our bodies allow us to do on a daily basis. Also, appreciation for what we have in life outside of sport (family, friends, our health, opportunities, etc). I find it so easy to get caught up in the moment, living in this injury bubble, stressed about what I can't do that others are doing, that I forget for just a moment how lucky I am to lead the life that I do.

2) Learning how the body works. Any non-medical professional want to challenge me on a game of knee or clavicle trivia? Bring it!

3) Swimming. I've had the opportunity to start my stroke from scratch, rather than my usual approach of doing a little bit of stroke work here and there while trying to get fit and fast. In the end, old habits would always stick around. But, when you are forced to swim only 25m full stroke at a time, slowly, everyday, making changes is possible, also giving training a sense of purpose and having a goal to work towards.

4) Motivation. I can't lie, there is nothing more motivating than a setback. Well, maybe it takes a lengthy setback to get you motivated, but whatever works right? I've also had the time to evaluate my goals and the road ahead. Why do I do this? What is my ultimate goal and am I on track to achieve it? If not, what needs to change?

Now, these pics are totally unrelated to everything above, but bring a spot of sunshine to my life . Rumon, thanks for capturing the joy on that day!

Best man duty: corral the peacocks!