Look back on the 2007-2008 Season
The 2007-2008 Ski Season was like one big roller coaster ride for me. It started off on such a great note with skiing so well and having high hopes for making another run as World Cup Overall Champion. In 2003 I won the title, last season I finished #2, and this year I wanted it really bad. I had worked tirelessly in the summer in the gym, water ramping, and making sure everything was perfect. But to make a long story short the wheels from my wagon not only fell off, they shot off!! At our first camp I had a very scary spill and was taken down to a hospital in Denver with a possible broken neck, but was cleared by an MRI and CT scan. After many hours of PT and wearing a silly neck brace I headed off to our first World Cup in France and on our first training day blew out my left knee. I was to the point of so much frustration, the tears would just not stop falling, and I couldn’t be there any longer. My coach Flash drove me 3 1/2 hours to the airport so I could just fly home. I didn’t even get the chance to say hi to all of my friends from the other countries, I was just in and then out. So I had a lot of time to think about my skiing career and whether or I was going to return. I had accomplished so much and did I really need more, what else could I reach for. I’m what they call a savvy veteran now (which is a nice term for OLD) and could I really make it back. And my answer was YES!! I have been in this amazing sport for a long time now but I know I still have something to offer. I got back to 2nd in the world after my last knee surgery and by gosh I know I can do it again.
When I decided that I still wanted to compete again I knew that now was the time to start up the business that I had always wanted to own. With my boyfriend Matt we have created Silver Bean Coffee Co. (find out more at silverbeancoffee.com). I just couldn’t sit there all winter long watching everyone do what they love and me sitting on the stupid bike trying to get all the way around. So there was no better time than the present. All winter I worked hard doing building our business and even harder at my knee rehab and getting back on track to compete next winter.
So that pretty much brings to the present moment of having a wonderful start up company and a knee that is ready to rock (well not quite but getting there) for next year! Looking back at my situation I couldn’t feel more lucky. Sure it sucks to blow out your knee, but how many people can take that time to start up their own business and still have the passion and drive to compete in mogul skiing again.
I really missed being a part of my team but it was great to watch everyone compete and see those who have never won, win their first world cup. I cheered as my best friend’s Emiko Torito and Shelly Robertson did just that. It was a great year all around for skiing with Lindsey Vonn and Bode Miller winning Overall World Cup Titles. There are so many memories to write about but one of the things that I loved to see the most was my little brother becoming a world class athlete in his own right. He is on the U.S. Aerial Team and is doing triple flipping quadruple twisting tricks. He is in a sport where the big boys do the unimaginable and now he is officially one of the big boys.
So as I look back on this roller coaster of a season I can only think that it was meant to be, for not only me but for everyone. Some people had frustrating years while others shined. It’s hard to understand sometimes why things happen to you but you’ve just got to trust that everything will be ok. I have to take my own advice in thinking that no matter what happens, you have to make the best of it. As the saying goes, when life gives you lemons, make lemonade!! Ok, well now my new saying when life gives you lemons, make coffee!!!
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Mountain Biking
