We Skied!

Today Ryan and I were finally able to go up to Park City and use our passes. I was so excited and also pretty nervous. As we were driving up there and the snow started pouring down upon us, I can't say that I wasn't more than a little tempted to just pretend we went skiing and instead just go and sit in a movie theater with my husband for the next several hours. :)

When we arrived, Ryan assured me that he would be a fine instructor and that he could patiently teach me all I needed to know. We started off on the bunny hill and he told me I was picking things up really quickly and that I was doing a fabulous job. All his kudos and atta-girls went straight to my head and after only 2 bunny runs, I decided to hit the real thing. (by real thing I mean the run with the green dots) We jumped on a lift and started going up the mountainside. And we went up and up and up and up and up and up. Seriously! We didn't stop until we were on the very top. I scouted out the green dot and off we went. I felt pretty darn confident. I quickly learned how to go from side to side and how to slow down. Nothing was stopping me now! I thought it would be fun to see what it felt like to go straight down instead of wasting my time going back and forth. Bad idea!!! At first I was fine, but the further I went, the more speed I picked up. I swear I must have been going at least 50 mph.

I started to panic and kept saying to myself, "OK think Sarah! What can you do to slow yourself down?" I hadn't learned this in my brief tutorial and was at an absolute loss. I even said a silent prayer, but it was of no use. I was going way too fast. I thought about just falling over, but images of cartoon characters rolling down the mountain, head over heels until they form a giant snowball kept rushing through my head. I tried making my skis into a 'pizza' with no relief at all. I finally realized I was just going to have to crash. So for some reason I thought it would be a good idea to fall straight back. Not a good idea. My skis stayed on the ground, and my knees were bent, but I was laying on my back. I continued to go straight down the hill at 50 mph for a good 200 yards on my back! My coat was filling up with snow, my head was banging up and down, I thought, "Hmm... this must be the end for me. At least I gave it a good effort."

But behold my amazing husband came to my rescue and used his own body to stop me. (hope you're not too battered & bruised)

Needless to say, this little 'adventure' zapped me of all my confidence. I now realize that if I really want to be a skier, I'm going to actually have to learn how to ski. Going straight down the mountain with absolutely no idea of how to stop isn't a good way to go.

Thank goodness I have such a sweet and patient husband who was there to pick me up, and who never left my side.

I'm completely exhausted right now and my body aches all over, but I can't wait to go again!