The Full Story
It all began Thursday evening when I felt a cracking sensation in my left, back rib cage while doing push ups. My ribs had been sore from my post-race cough after both of my WJC races last week. My coughing had been severe enough that it kept me from sleeping a few nights, so I was trying to be careful not to hurt it any more. On Thursday afternoon I decided to take my strength session easy. I figured I would skip sit-ups and crunches, but that push-ups would probably not hurt. I was wrong – just five push ups into the strength session I felt a cracking in my rib.
When it happened I knew exactly what I had done; I broke a rib two years ago the same way, but the breaking point for that rib was sneezing. I stopped the workout, took a pain killer and got in bed, praying that it was just a pulled muscle. I didn’t sleep all night and at 4:00 am I started feeling nauseous. I left my room and went into the living room where I got into the fetal position and waited. Then Erik staggered out of his room and lay down on the couch, looking queasy. A few minutes later I threw up from the pain. Then Erik threw up, and then Sam threw up. The two guys kept dry heaving for hours after that.
At 7:00 am Scott drove me down to the hospital to get x-rays while the others rested. While I was laying in bed, hooked up to an IV, Erik and Sam called saying they needed to get to the hospital as well. Scott left me and drove the 45 minutes back up to our remote cottage and picked up the others. By the time they arrived at the hospital, Erik was so dehydrated that his hands were numb. The doctors thought that they had contracted some sort of airborne stomach bug. Sam and I were released from the hospital that afternoon, but Erik had to stay the night. At 8pm Scott called again from the hospital with news that Sadie had caught the same bug and would have to spend the night there as well. I think we’ll all look back at this day and laugh at the absurdity of the situation – it’s going to make a really good story.
The broken rib is the icing on the cake for me. I think it’s my body’s way of screaming “STOP! Take a break.” So I’m heading home on Friday afternoon. I’m not sure yet what the rest of the season will look like for me, but I do know that it will entail some time off to recover. Ever since late August I’ve been riding a roller coaster of injuries and I think it’s time to let them heal so that I can bring my “A-Game” to training and racing come May 1. I’m hoping to race at Junior Olympics in my home state, but I’ll have to wait and see how I feel.