The Hike on St. John

Something that never happens, we all had off on the same day. So we all went over to St John on the ferry to do some hiking and beaching! 

We decided on this one trail that would challenge us. We all needed some good exercise and I was excited to get my heart pumping. I hate being inactive! We all started to sweat almost immediately because it was straight up.

We decided to take a break about 10 minutes into the hike. We sat down to drink some water and identify our surroundings (when scientists hang out together…). Ty had pointed something out so I got up to check it out and when I turned around I slipped on the rocked and nailed my knee. It didm hurt too bad right away, a small gouge of skin right on my knee cap (patella!) started bleeding and so I was paying attention to that. Lucky, Ty carries a first aid kit everywhere so I was able to really clean it out. But sitting there, everything started to swell… I noticed some more scrapes on my thigh and my knee started to become really hard to bend. 

After sitting a few minutes, Ty and Amber asked if I still wanted to keep going. Damned if I was going to let this fall stop me from exercising. I had been looking forward to this hike all week!!

So I made them go in front and I was going SO SLOW. They would stop every once in awhile to let me catch up. But I was starting to get really frustrated. Ive had tons of knee problems in the past and I started thinking that I had messed up my knee more then just bruises and scrapes. I couldn't bend it or put weight on it it hurt so bad. It felt like how it had this summer when I could barely walk and it took months to get back to normal. The fact that I probably re-injured my knee made me very upset. 

I was trying so hard to hold it together, but the more I thought about it, the more I was about to lose it. Ty was being so nice, asking if I needed a hand, waiting for me, walking behind me in case I fell again, he could catch me but I really just needed some time to think everything through on my own. After pushing myself further up this mountain then I should have based on pride alone, lagging behind my friends to be by myself, I was distraught. Ty was behind me again and I started to lose it. My face was squished up trying to hold it together but then I turn around and say “Im losing it!” and burst into tears. He gives me a hug, tells me its ok and then calls for Amber so we can start heading back down.

Once we get back to civilization, Amber hunts down some free ice for me and we chill for awhile so I can Ice. Then the rest of the day we just hang out, looking in shops and sitting around. No complaints from my friends. Bought some cool shoes on sale. Relaxed at a bar for happy hour and got some Italian dinner. We all had the giggles pretty bad during dinner which was pretty entertaining. And we were all freezing! Air conditioning and fans blasting on a winter evening was definitely not necessary…