Softball, Crutches, and a Trophy

Every August long weekend Ryan and I participate in the Milk River Softball Tournament. I am very bad at taking photos at these things because we were camping, my phone died, and my car charger only charges when the car is running. So my phone dies quickly and I live without it all weekend (by the way, I need a watch- no one ever knew the time because our phones were dead).

We played and lost (by one run) on Friday night. And on Saturday we played and won both of our games.

At this tournament, a lot of people like to camp at the ball diamonds, they have RV hook ups available and it’s nice to be right next to the fields all weekend. Ryan and I were in our tent right next to a camp site full of very loud and very active 20-years olds. Friday night they partied through the night, but we knew that is the name of the game with ball tournaments so we dealt with the inconvenience.

On Saturday night though, they plugged in their speakers and sub woofers and blasted the music all night long. Campers kept going over and asking them to be quiet (including myself) and they would turn it down for a minute or two and crank it back up again. At 4 a.m. I snapped! I went over there screaming. I kicked a plastic chair so hard it flew across their fire and I ripped the plugins out of their speakers saying I would start swinging if I had to come back. (Side note: anyone who knew me before I was 25 knows this as typical Rachel behavior. Anyone who knows me after 25 is shocked by this story and can’t envision me angry and screaming. I’ve mellowed out a lot.)

I went back to the tent and my foot was hurting BAD. I took off my sock and sure enough it was split wide open and I clearly needed stitches so poor Ryan had to drive me to the ER. In the end, I had dislocated my pinky toe, severed a tendon, and needed five stitches. When she told me about the tendon I lost it! All this training this summer and now I’m off my feet for who knows how long? She said I’ll likely need plastic surgery to reattach the tendon!

All I could sob out was “What if it doesn’t heal right and I become slow?” Being a sprinter and being fast has been pretty much the core of my confidence my whole life. I’ve gained and lost weight, I’ve struggled with sports like softball, but my one natural talent has always been my speed (for short sprints anyway). I puff up with pride when I make a dash for first and hear people in the dugout or on the bleachers go “Wow! That girl has wheels.” It’s literally my defining athletic trait, what makes me feel good about myself. What if it’s gone? Ok- enough negative talk. I have to stay positive because everyone knows positive people heal faster. I have a doctor appointment tomorrow and who knows, maybe the tendon reattached itself (wishful thinking.)

We got back to the campsite at 5:30 am and tried to get in a few hours of sleep. Luckily my team had a few women they could use as subs for me and the team went on to win all three games on Sunday and win 1^st place in the tournament!! This is HUGE for our team because we are the beer drinking, have fun team. Last year we only won one game- so to come back and win the whole thing this year is a huge deal! Everyone was ecstatic. And even though I just took score all day Sunday, I also got a cool Softball sweatshirt.

But yeah- that’s where I’m at right now. I am SO mad at myself, but the Tynan temper is a bad one. My dad once lost his cool after a fight with my mom and punched a tree and broke his arm, so I’m just following suit.On the bright side- this happened on my foot that has been giving me bad heel pain so I asked her to look at my heel and it turns out I developed a heel spur. Now that I know what it is, I can get custom orthodics to ease the pain and I’m thinking I may try to get them to take the spur off if they’re going into my foot to reattach a tendon. See? Silver lining.

But for now, I feel like Michael Scott on my damn crutches. I don’t like feeling weak or helpless so I get embarrassed when people stare at me, or ask what happened. I have coworkers getting coffee for me which makes me feel like an ass.