The long and winding road!

US Nationals in Winter Park, CO did not go exactly as planned this year. The SL race was first on the schedule and the weather was great, so how could it be anything but a good day right? I started 45th first run and threw it into the flip with a 25th place finish. I was happy with the time, but inflamed my patella tendon about half way down the first pitch and was having trouble putting weight on it in-between runs. That said, there was no way I could pass up a clean course starting 6th! So, I warmed up the knee as best I could at the start line and went with it. Not a bad plan, but about 20 seconds into the run my lower back started to seize up and spasm on every right footer, progressively getting worse with each turn. By the last 15 gates or so I was having trouble breathing and felt it was all I could do to make it down on my feet. I ended up taking third on the run, which I was excited about, and scoring by .12 of a point. Not a huge victory but I guess anything helps! I couldn't bend over past about 60 degrees the following day, and elected to head home early to start therapy and try to get ready for spring series.

Between getting out of the car like an 80 year old man every 20 minutes to stretch a spasming back on the side of the highway and blowing my engine 400 miles from home, the 17 hr drive was quite interesting and slightly longer than I had hoped. Long story short I made it home, got a few days of therapy in at Pneu Thera Rehabilitation, picked up my bro Nick Krause from the airport in Spokane and drove to Wenatchee, WA for spring series! I am skipping the SG race today, but hopefully everything feels good tomorrow morning so I can go shred some SL!