Melissa i
Strong
.jpg)
From 2011-2017 I periodically shared my highs, lows, adventures, recipes, and aspirations in my blog.
melissa i strong
blog
+ a few added tidbits pre-blog
Some years ago I decided to chronicle my life as a working athlete.
It is interesting resurrecting these old post and visiting with the youthful and optimistic me.
What message would I tell the younger Melissa--simple "don't play with electricity."
I stopped posting with the accident -- turning my time to recovery and opening Bird & Jim. Pouring my words into Exit Wounds.
Rad Ass Climbing Chicks
It was summer of 2001 when team RACC came into being. Lounging and laughing on crash pads, a bouldering session concluding, we randomly threw out perspective names hoping to discover our perfect team name. Gearing up for our trip overseas, the training, the planning--the sheer excitement, we felt as though a team name was necessary.
A trip to the magic
forrest of Fontainebleau--a bit different from the girls trips in 2002 & 2003 but always amazing!
2011
August 2011
The woes of Bear Lake construction. Some days in the Park but the drive to find new rigs outside of the Bear Lake corridor.
Pear Lake here we come!
2011
I made a vow as I left Hueco--to come back ready next season--ready to crush!
I have suffered for three years from a shoulder injury that I foolishly choose to climb through rather than rest and let recover. This decision kept me climbing but not using my shoulder correctly. I was compensating and climbing in fear, making the situation worse. Because of this, I lost a lot of strength and needed to regain it. With my shoulder becoming more stable (yet still suffering from a shoulder impingement), I realized how weak I got in the interim--this is what initially drove me to training...
Knee rehab
before the Peloton 👎🏼
All summer long I waved goodbye to Adam. Some days these goodbyes were filled with acceptance others were filled with bitter lament that I was not going climbing.
Working 5 nights a week, 8-10 hour shifts, was not helping the healing process of my knee (after completely tearing my ACL and partially tearing my meniscus, MCL and fracturing my tibia in February). It was swollen every night after work and I knew if I pushed it by hiking up to climb it would get worse—I knew because of course I tried....
