Small Victories .......

This morning I awoke safely tucked up in my own bed, the foot was tired but OK, no traction, hospital beds or fractures- PHEW!............
Phew because last night I Skied ! Yes SKIED !
Oh how happy am I this morning :-) My Inner self was dancing victoriously last night & still going this morning when I woke up.

I didn't manage to persuade my employers to let me tag on a trip to Canada in April after my weeks work in California as I was hoping but  my lovely man is taking his two sons skiing to Morzine, France for Easter & in an impetuous moment I agreed to fly out & join them for 4 days before I fly to LA. So after much deliberation & of course shopping for the right outfit (Yes...... all the gear & no idea!) I decided that a couple of lessons on the artificial snow slopes in the UK could be a sensible plan. So last night was my first lesson. I have skied once before, a couple of months before I broke the foot I had a week at ski school in the three valleys & although it was hard work, challenging & scary I had got bitten by the bug & have really wanted to try it again since my Lisfranc.

I nervously met my instructor & after coaxing my foot into the ski boot off I went, out onto the nursery slope. To begin with I had forgotten most of the basics, my legs were shaking with fear & the butterflies in my stomach were more like a fast spin on your washing machine cycle. Anyway my instructor was very patient & we went through some warm up exercises, including jumping with my skis on would you believe ? "Now I want you to jump" my instructor said, I looked at him open mouthed & after swallowing back the "NO, I DO NOT JUMP!" that my brain was screaming I bit the bullet & did it.
Just a few inches from the snow but I did it.
After nearly an hour of hard work practising snow ploughing, trying to turn & testing my leg strength I did manage a controlled run down the slope of about 50 meters with turns & stopped neatly at the bottom. I was knackered I can tell you and sweaty and hot but absolutely thrilled !
The toughest bit was taking the mental leap of faith. Physically I was fine (although very glad I'd been working out at the gym & aware that lots more work is needed) but mentally I was apprehensive to say the least. But by breaking it down into baby steps & gradually working my way up the slope I got to a point where I felt relatively safe & happy.
So there you go, we can recover from Lisfranc to a point where life becomes fun again !
I have one more lesson in the UK in two weeks, then I'm off to Morzine. They've just had another 5 cm of snow, conditions are good according to the reports so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it stays that way until we go. I'll let you know how I get on .......