I went from being the best in the world to broken like the many before me. It’s scary; I have never had an injury that has forced me to sit out for almost an entire season while my teammates continue to travel and race around the world.

Considering that this year is a write off for me, I’m fairly positive. I will have lots of time to recover and still two years before the next Olympics. Still, I’m scared, since I don’t know anything about what the next 10 months will have in store for me. It sucks having to rely on someone else to bring you some food, to help you go to the bathroom, to help you go anywhere. I think I am a reasonably independent person and I’m simply not used to depending on the people around me this much. I have never though about it before now, but its slightly ridiculous when everyone says, “You’ll come back stronger”.

I know there’s power to positive thinking but I feel that I am the one who will decide this, and I will be the one putting in the hours of rehab. Maybe it’s just an easy thing to say to someone when they have hurt themselves. Personally, I like it best when I get a reply that’s honest and straight from the heat with no sugarcoating. The truth is, I will need a fairly major surgery, which will include bone drilling, lots of suction, lots of blood, removal of a perfectly good hamstring ligament, and a few staples to top it off. I think a, “Crap that sucks” response is more in order.

I’m doing my best to hold my head high, because it is amazing what the human body and mind is capable of overcoming. In hindsight, a blown ACL is minor in the grand scheme of things, it just sucks that it happened during my best season to date. Oh well, I gotta leave some room for improvement right?

We are leaving France now and heading home with a happy team. Nik Zoricic kept our medal streak alive for the season with a third place finish in Les Contamines, France this week. He’s so happy right now to be back on the podium after a slow start to the season. Good job buddy!