If She Can Do It...

...then so can I.

As I write this, it is snowing heavily, and we are expecting about a foot of snow by the time it is all done sometime after dark.   Not really great biking weather, no matter what kind of bike you have.  But, that doesn't mean I'm not thinking about it, or thinking about other news in the area that involve athletes and fitness.

I live in Colorado, the home of several Olympic athletes and medal holders, including Lindsey Vonn.  A week or so ago, she landed poorly during a giant slalom run in Schladming, Austria, trashing her knee in three very painful ways.  She had to spend nearly a week waiting for surgery, which was performed in her home town of Vail, Colorado, by the doctor who has kept her healthy since she was 13 years old.  I saw the film of her fall, and clearly heard her crying in pain.  Kinda sounded like me when they moved my ankle up on the mountain back in December.  OW.

What is remarkable about any of this is that she intends to ski in the next Winter Olympics, which is less than a year away.  She has to not only heal from the surgery and the broken bone, but she needs to rehab from that, and then work out until she is in Olympic shape again.  I realize she's young, just over half my age, but even so, this sounds really ambitious.  Not that I doubt she will make it.  I certainly do not doubt it at all.  Lindsey is a powerhouse skier who has worked hard to be where she is in the world standings.  

And if she can do it, set the goal and make the goal (which she has had to do before with injuries), then there's nothing to stop me, right?  I'm already well on the way to recovery, after the maddening weeks of the leg being immobilized by the cast.  I'm already walking without crutches, and the movement in my ankle is twice as good as it was the day after the cast was removed.  The swelling continues to go down, day by day.  My goal is to be on a bike by first of April.  I may beat that; if I am cleared to wear a regular shoe when I visit the doctor the middle of March, then I will definitely beat that date.  I may only be able to ride on flat surfaces at first, but that's okay.  There are plenty of flat trails around here.  I will probably be sore, and I will probably need higher-than-usual doses of ibuprofen.  

My knees miss biking.  My legs miss biking.  My face misses biking.  Soon.  Very very soon.

And I leave you now with the last picture I took before my fall.  Why not, right?