Hey Everyone!!
SO.. this is my first blog! finally! Probably a lot of you know I got a concussion a few weeks ago at Nantahala/Charlotte, and it turned out to be pretty serious. I was pretty under-the-weather for quite some time. I got what the doc called a secondary impact concussion, which means I hit my head and got a minor concussion(thanks to big drop, which is now officially my least favorite drop to paddle-hopefully this will change...eeek), and then hit my head again(thanks to my lack of a boof stroke at Nantahala Falls-during a race run, may I add), and got a much more severe concussion. Turns out hitting your head that much isn't very good for you...who knew?? Anyways, it really is a bummer because, according to my doctor and athletic trainers, after a concussion like mine, you have to wait until you don't have any symptoms at all(headaches, nausea, dizziness, difficulty concentrating, light sensitivity...), which took me 12 pretty miserable days, and then you have to wait another 7 days(symptom free) before you can start exercising at all again, and if all goes well, you can start doing what they consider "contact sports" another 7 days after that!! As of right now, I can start exercising(non-contact stuff) on Tuesday, HOORAY! and then hopefully I can get back out on the field and back in a boat the following Tuesday. Now the most unfortunate part about all of this is that I have two field hockey tournaments, one next weekend and one the weekend after, and then of course the U.S. team trials/PanAm's the next weekend. So, I won't be able to play in my first tournament, but hopefully I'll be good to go for the second one. I also decided that it is probably not the smartest idea to try to race at trials. This was an incredibly tough decision, but I don't want to rush myself back into it since my confidence is a little crushed, and especially not in such a stressful, pressure filled racing environment as team trials during an Olympic year. I don't think I can even begin to explain how bummed I am. Racing at team trials this spring was a big goal for me, and not reaching goals that you make for yourself really just sucks. BUT. . . there is a moral to this story. It has been really hard on me mentally not being able to exercise at all this last week few weeks, I can't even remember the last time I didn't do any form of exercise for two weeks straight, in fact I don't think I ever have. But it made me realize how much I was taking my healthy, athletic status for granted. That cliche line about how "you don't know what you have until it's gone" is very fitting. So a word of advice so you don't end up missing out on a whole bunch of opportunities to train and compete like I am, TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF AND YOUR BODY, DON'T TAKE YOUR HEALTH FOR GRANTED, AND DON'T BE AFRAID TO TAKE IT EASY EVERY ONCE IN AWHILE. All athletes' bodies need recovery time, so if your hurting, let yourself heal before you jump back out there, trust me your body will thank you. Not to mention you will safe yourself a lot of time if you take one or even two days off if your hurting, rather than 3 weeks or more if you get injured. And another thing, DON'T FORGET HOW MUCH YOU CAN LEARN BY WATCHING OTHER PEOPLE. I've done A LOT of watching from the sideline these last couple weeks, and can't believe how much I've learned, its incredible. I'm aching to get back out there and put all this new-found knowledge into action. And one last thing, DON'T BE AFRAID, CONFIDENCE AND CALMNESS ARE GOOD FRIENDS TO HAVE OUT THERE. A little bit of confidence combined with some respect for the feature can go along way, and a peaceful state of mind in the midst of chaos, nothing compares....
So there you go a blog from Mariah, unfortunate topic, I wish I could tell you how wonderful my training is going instead, but hey, you got to take things as they come, and make the best of your situation, and learn from your mistakes, and live in the moment, and all that...
so till next time, peace be with you!
Mariah