Scars make better stories than tatoos

[Wahine]

Well now that I know there are awards to be had...

I was going to save this one for a night when I'd had a few drinks. But maybe it's better this way.

It was 1997 and I was lucky enough to be chosen to participate in an international level multisport event. This event took place in Whistler BC and was meant to challenge athletes from different walks of life in ways that would produce the best possible visual spectacle. It was ridiculous and it was a made for TV event.

So one of the events was the "Downhill Run". They took us up to the top of mount Whistler and we had to run down the glacier, across a talus field, up a ridge, over another ridge, glacier, talus field and finally down a very steep grade. This would have be a double black diamond run in the winter. At this time of the year, it was snow free and made up of scree, the slate kind.

By the time we got to the scree slope we all had shot quads. We all fell. Now, I don't know if you've ever seen slate when it's broken or chipped, but it's effing sharp. I fell onto my rather large (musclular that is) rear. the moment I got up I could feel the wind on my azz. I continued to run. The cameras continued to roll including helicams and a guy chasing us down the hill with a cam on his shoulder. The whole time I'm thinking "well he's getting an eye full".

So we get to the finish line, and I say to one of the other girls, "I think I tore my tights." To which she replies "Tore your tights? You should see your azz!"

Well I had quite the gash. The athletic trainer came over and I got to lie spread eagle, face down on a big boulder while he tried to clean things up for the next event, about 2 hours away. I'm laying there, getting a huge slash in my butt scrubbed out with a nasty hibitane brush while being interviewed on camera for a nationally sindicated program.

The trainer was unable to clean the gash adequately so he sent me to the clinic in town. They had to freeze me and do a surgical excision. Apparently, I had a piece of Mount Whistler lodged in my left cheek. 17 stitches, a 5" long peice of slate and a flattened area on my bum (they had to take out a bunch of surrounding fat) later, I was good to compete the next day.

My incision healed and my scar looked quite nice until my fat cells decided to fill back out to match the other side, then the scar stretched way out. Now it's pretty hideous. But hidden, unless I wear a thong bikini.

And yes, parts of this whole even did in fact end up in the program, much to my em-bare-azz-ment.

Now that's gotta be worth some kind of an award.

[maillotpois]

Great story Wahine!

I'm like Running Mommy - my body's a total road map, mostly of surgeries, including child removal.

C-section scar (no way that kid's big head was coming out of my on its own! );

Scar on one hand from ganglion removal surgery and on another from a burn as a very little kid;

My knees are covered with little scar patches from childhool injuries;

Most recent long scar on the inside of my calf from "suspicious" mole removal by a riding partner (dermatologist) who decided to go back in and get more after the biopsy. We call her the butcher. She's also a ruthless cyclist;

Oddly, I don't really have any cycling scars, though I have crashed.

DH has a great chainring scar from a stuck gear smashing into his calf on our first century.

[MomOnBike]

I can't come close to some of the stories already posted, but I've got a few - mostly on my hands, poor things, no wonder they hurt.

I've got one on my palm from when I was running in the dark, trailing my hand across a counter, and hit an exposed nail. That probably should have had stitches.

The other (left) hand has a jagged scar across the base knuckle of the thumb from where I was washing dishes and a cheap glass expleoded in my hand and cut a huge gash in my thumb. We cleaned it up as best we could, got ready ... oh, I forgot to mention DH & I were playing a concert that night ... and drove 30 miles into town to the emergency room where I got the hand stitched up. Yes, we were wearing our Concert Blacks.

I had to borrow a different bow (German), 'cause I couldn't handle mine (French), but I played the concert, thankyouverymuch. The thing that stands out about that night was Elder Daughter, as we were wrestling the bass and horn out the door, saying "Don't bleed on your bass, Mommy!"

[Wahine]

I can't come close to some of the stories already posted, but I've got a few - mostly on my hands, poor things, no wonder they hurt.

The other (left) hand has a jagged scar across the base knuckle of the thumb from where I was washing dishes and a cheap glass expleoded in my hand and cut a huge gash in my thumb. We cleaned it up as best we could, got ready ... oh, I forgot to mention DH & I were playing a concert that night ... and drove 30 miles into town to the emergency room where I got the hand stitched up. Yes, we were wearing our Concert Blacks.

I had to borrow a different bow (German), 'cause I couldn't handle mine (French), but I played the concert, thankyouverymuch. The thing that stands out about that night was Elder Daughter, as we were wrestling the bass and horn out the door, saying "Don't bleed on your bass, Mommy!"

I have to say, that's a good story. I love that you played anyway and the bit abot not bleeding on your bass.

[Pax]

One time when I was a kid I was trying to pull a piece of bamboo out by the roots to make a fishing pole, I yanked and pulled and tugged and when it finally came loose I tumbled back wards and fell on to a previously cut piece of bamboo...it poked a couple of inches into my right butt cheek. So there I was, piece of bamboo in my hands and another sharp piece sticking into my cheek...my brother watches this in horror and takes off running to find my folks, I extricate myself from the bamboo and limp over to the road to wait. My dad shows up in our little kharman ghia and tries to figure out how to transport my bleeding butt to the base dispensary...we settled on me being on my hands and knees in the tiny back seat with my head hanging out the window like a St. Bernard. Ten stitches later and I was good as new...now I have what looks like cool bullet hole on my butt cheek

[Wahine]

One time when I was a kid I was trying to pull a piece of bamboo out by the roots to make a fishing pole, I yanked and pulled and tugged and when it finally came loose I tumbled back wards and fell on to a previously cut piece of bamboo...it poked a couple of inches into my right butt cheek. So there I was, piece of bamboo in my hands and another sharp piece sticking into my cheek...my brother watches this in horror and takes off running to find my folks, I extricate myself from the bamboo and limp over to the road to wait. My dad shows up in our little kharman ghia and tries to figure out how to transport my bleeding butt to the base dispensary...we settled on me being on my hands and knees in the tiny back seat with my head hanging out the window like a St. Bernard. Ten stitches later and I was good as new...now I have what looks like cool bullet hole on my butt cheek

LOL - my transport down the mountain was very similar. They laid me out on my stomach in the back of a cargo van on the floor and drove down the maintainence road. Bumpy!! Then at the emerg they gave me my Tetanus shot in my right shoulder. So, between the pain from the laceration and the shot I could not sleep on my back or either side. I am not a stomach sleeper so that was tough. After two nights I figured out that if I lay on my back on the hotel room couch with my legs draped over the arm of the couch, I could lift my bum slightly and sleep. It was pretty silly. but not as silly as sitting with my butt in the kitchenette sink to soak it with epsom salts. I think I have a picture of that somewhere. Hmmmmm, don't think I'll post it.

[Crankin]

I've had a few crashes, but no permanent scars. I might have a very faint outline of a bruise/slightly discolred skin from my recent crash in January, but nothing else. My first scar is on my right knee. I got it when I was 2 and a half, running up the street and tripping and falling on the unpaved road. Got some gravel in there. My first bike crash caused a huge hematoma on the same spot, but all signs of that receded. I have 3 scars on my face, from a car accident when I was 15. One across my eye, one on my forehead, and one on my nose. They aren't too visible and that crash transformed me into an instant seatbelt wearer in 1969, long before it was common practice. I also have a tiny scar on the inside of my left wrist that occured when the knife slipped as i was cutting a too frozen bagel when I was in college. I remember being asked at school if I tried to kill myself . Other than that, I have a c section scar from the baby I lost in 1981. It is barely visible and I was happily able to have my 2 boys vaginally after that.
That's it.