One word, Ironman

[Trek420]

no words can describe what that kind of injury does to an athlete.

I think she does a pretty good job here :

"I knew it was going to be physically hard, but I didn't think about emotionally. Right when we pulled into the parking lot to check-in Arielle Martin pedaled by on her BMX bike. She quickly turned around to come say hi to me. For those of you who don’t know Arielle Martin was 1 point away from being the first and only female to represent the US at the Olympics in BMX. Jill Kintner ended up getting that spot, but Arielle is one of the baddest women on a BMX bike. As many of you may know I was doing my best to try and make the Olympic team for BMX months before my injury. Arielle was one of the women I raced against and to see her here and knowing that a year and a half or so ago I was competing against her was ridiculously hard. I never let on that I felt that way while I was talking to her, but it was all I could do to choke back the tears. Not only that, but a good handful of the best BMX men are here getting ready for the Supercross race in Copenhagen and seeing them was hard as well. Just knowing I was “one of them” and now I’m not is mind blowing and clearly something I still need to deal with. You know you think you’re okay and then something unexpected happens and BOOM you feel like you’re at square one again. So emotionally this has been a bit of a roller coaster."

http://blogs.myspace.com/mtbtara

Makes you think. Are there many of us, a few who could handle a major injury as bravely and well?

Go Tara, Go!