January 21st- Women's slopestyle finals, US Freeskiing Open, the day i have been thinking about and waiting for since day 1. I drop in, nervous and knowing something bad is about to happen. I hit the rail, im ok, now the box, still ok, drop into the first jump as i hit the tranny i think "I'm going to case" i hit the deck fakie like a ton of bricks and explode. I stop sliding and try to pull myslef together, I think "i'm alive, i hurt, but i'm alive. just get to the finish and i can cry there" i get up, hike up the landing and retrive my now strapless poll and head towards the third jump, the only jump i did'nt hit in practice. i couldn't think, i couldn't see, all i knew is i had to finish. Then my mind went blank i left the jump completely lost and carved right thinking the landing would be closer to that side. I was wrong. I saw a man with a camera, some banners and no landing. i thought "i'm going to die, right now" Then I hit. I'm not sure what I hit just that I wasn't in the air anymore. i slid down the landing then saw a banner slide past me and just thought "I'm alive and I finished, now i have to take my second run, i have to finish this, i have to prove that i can do it." then i felt sick, looked down and saw the huge puddle of blood that i had just puked and felt my tooth poking the bottom of my tongue, I knocked my teeth out, there was nothing i could do, they were gone. I was gone, i was running on pure adrenaline and the fact that i had to finish. There were people all around me, so many faces but no one i remembered. I got up and skied away with cameras following me, the announcer yelling my name and how amasing it was that i got up, later i heard that i had the gnarliest fall of the open. hundreds of people were starting at my blood covered face and cheering, i just kept thinking "why are they clapping, i fell and i am only halfway done" i took off my skis by the lift and wobbled, completely dazed, into the bathroom to wash my face off a little. Ashley was following me and telling me to sit down, trying to explain exactly what i had just done, i wasn't listening, i looked in the morror and saw a stranger, washed away some of the blood and still couldn't recognize my own face, i was gone, someone new was standing in my place, it made me sad but i just wanted to finish. I walked back to the competitors tent to find my coach and ask him to call my mom but i didnt find him, i was quickly surrounded by people trying to make me sit down, i stood there telling them i was fine and trying to answer questions that the ski patroller asked me but i couldn't think. then the pain hit me like i had just walked in front of a train, i dropped almost instantly and started screamingfor someone to get my boot off. i felt the pressure of the world on my leg then it shot up my back and bored into the base of my skull, it makes me cry now thinking of theat pain but still all i wanted was to take my second run and just finish what i started, prove to the world that i could do it. they called my parents and my mom said it was up to me then i signed the release and they let me go. i put on my skis and headed towards the lift line. 2 friendly faces stopped me, i now remember that it was pep and kristi, they told me that i was seriously injured and they couldn't let me get on the lift, i finally caved into the pain and asked a freind to take my skis and ashley to come with me to the hospital. we walked to the front of the resort and boarded a bus, the driver stopped in the back of the hospital and we walked around to the ER entrance. i sat for a minute then when i stepped into triage my adrenaline had worn off and i could do nothing more than lay there and cry because i hurt so bad. 7 hours and countless x-rays later they gave me dirrections to an oral surgeon and sent me on my way, i got on the bus and they let me off outside of his office, 3 hours later i was on my way with 12 stitches, a wire across my broken jaw and some vicoden to ease the rest. I met up with everyone and went into town, i sat down and started telling them my list of injuries. I smiled showing my 2 missing teeth with a wire glued across my remaining teeth and 12 neatly tied stiches on my upper and lower lips then explained the compressed disc, slightly fractured L1 vertabrae, 3 small compression fractures in my right tib-fib and my concussion was obvious. i also had a large abrasion on my left thumb from my pole strap ripping out and was sore in every part of my body. I couldn't remember what happened until nealry a month and a half later and many parts are still fuzzy.
wow that was sooooooooo long, sorry.
-Tamara
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.:ski or die:.
~pain is weakness leaving the body~
Newschoolers.com, often imitated, never duplicated.-GhostDragon
save your head, fall on your ass.--bangor
NWFT
