2014

Published by Kara Patterson on November 19, 2013

Since July, I've camped, road-tripped, backpacked, fished, photographed, played card games, seen old friends, made new friends, and slept to my heart's content.  I started bodybuilding (higher volume lifting with specific recovery times and such) in mid-September, coupled with whatever cardio I wanted (hikes and interval runs).  After five weeks of that, I started my first block of training, which is now over!  I'm currently in the beginning of my first week of block 2, and loving what my future looks like.

Have you ever experienced a major injury?  I've had a few, and the seasons following those years are always so fun to train for.  Grateful doesn't begin to describe how I feel for the fire and attentiveness I experience at practice every day, and I've never lived my life more purposefully.  I felt this way in the year leading up to 2008, after a stress fracture in my back in 2007 left me on the sidelines for a year.  If I made the Beijing Olympic team the year after that injury, what could happen now?  I'm excited.

This year won't happen without its own challenges.  I'm already experiencing some of my old SI joint pain, but since I know what helped me with that before, I can attack it head-on instead of wasting months trying to figure it out like the first time around.  You really do live and learn!  I still get to work on being confident in my block leg, but after yesterday's first practice on the runway, I'm feeling really good about it.