After yesterday’s post I had a few people reach out and ask what happened regarding the injuries. The other guide’s concussion–he had a run-in with his dog and took a blow to the head. My injuries were separate circumstances…the hip flexor actually due to overstretching in yoga (trying to work out the neck injury). Be careful people!! Don’t push yourself too hard.
The neck injury was water related, and turns out (to my surprise) I have whiplash. This was NOT my typical frisky ripple class II+/III- kind of situation though. Here’s the deal: my birthday coincided with the Subaru of Bend Outside Games, a 4-day long schedule of events, town-wide, involving adventure sports competitions. One of the events is the Meadowcamp Race which takes place on the “town run” (a class IV section of the Deschutes upstream from Bend proper). Sam was in town and since he would be running Meadowcamp for the race…and because I wanted to do something special for my bday… we ran it in a Dynamic Duo (a tandem whitewater kayak). I’ve duoed with him many times before but not this stretch. Long story short, on the last rapid the power of the water hitting me, sitting up front, pulled my helmet back hard…my head/neck along with it. I didn’t think anything of it at the time except for “holy shit that water is powerful!” and “damn, my neck is sore”.
For the record, the run was fun and beautiful, and Sam hit all the lines right. The rest of the weekend was awesome and my birthday lovely.
So that’s the scoop. I’m getting treatment in the form of PT with the best dude around (same guy who helped me through my MCL tear). Aside from laying off my bike and taking it easier than normal, I’m still going on the lower Deschutes this Thursday-Saturday and Grants Pass next week…to paddle, recreate and adventure. I’m grateful for everyone who has helped me, and put up with my cranky pants. It’s been almost two weeks of sleeplessness and discomfort making me less than “sunny” in my disposition. But things are on the mend now! Thanks for caring….
Frisky Ripples 