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Something I’ve always wanted to be able to do since I was little was learn to skateboard. When my ex-girlfriend (that’s a whole other story) was getting started with roller derby and practicing in the parking lot I decided to pick up a skateboard and some pads and give it a real try for once and be out in the parking lot with her. I went around the parking lot a bit but never managed to do a successful ollie and got discouraged.

So this past weekend I decided to give it another go. It’s something I always wanted to do and it was a form of exercise that I felt like I could really get into. I kept putting it off because I was worried about looking like a fool in front of a bunch of young kids. So I finally signed myself up for a lesson at Drop In Skate Park in Hillburn, NY on Saturday at noon.

The lesson went pretty well. The instructor showed me various things and helped me relax more and learn how to not be so stiff on the board. He also suggested a wider board since I have such a big foot. I still wasn’t doing ollies (something that will take time) but I was going up and down some inclines and just getting comfortable in general.

After the lesson I decided to make the invest in a new, wider board. The board I had previously was a small one I got at Sports Authority one day. One of my favorite skateboard companies has always been Alien Workshop because I love the alien head symbol. I have a tattoo on the back of my neck of an alien and even started a web hosting company with some friends back in the day called alienwebshop. So I ended up picking up this board:

After the instructor set it up for me I went out and gave it a try. I definitely felt more comfortable on it and practice turning on a incline for a bit. A ~10 year old kid even came over at one point and was giving me tips and suggesting tricks to try. He was showing me how to do a Pop Shuvit even though I couldn’t even really Ollie yet, but I was almost actually able to land it. After a while I decided I wanted to try going down a 6 foot incline that I found a bit intimidating. I went down it several times and, even though I was still nervous after the 10th time, I didn’t have any problems. I was feeling good. I was having fun, getting my heart rate up and exercising in a way I really had an interest in.

I gave the 6ft incline another go and went across to a 1 or 2 foot high fun box. I went up, across and something happened on the way down that I think I lost my balance and my board shot out from under me. I must’ve landed on one foot and then fell onto my back and hit my head on the ground. Fortunately I was wearing a helmet, but I felt a shock when I hit and knew it was a bad fall. When I looked up I saw that while my righ foot felt like it was going straight up it was actually twisted off to the side. I knew something bad had happened.

I started waving to some of the kids and eventually started yelling “I NEED HELP!”. One of the owners came in and took a quick look and went to call an ambulance. The pain in my foot was a throbbing numbness and not a sharp intense pain. Some kids came over and asked if I was alright. Some of them asked things like “Is the bone sticking out?” and suggested I pull up my jeans to take a look. I told them “I don’t think I want to know.” One of the kids brought me my bag with my phone in it and I called my brother and my friend Nelson who I had plans with that night to tell them what’s up. I almost tweeted the incident but didn’t want my parents to to see it and start worrying prematurely.

The ambulance arrived and they put me on a stretcher and brought me to the ambulance. The woman told me that when they were called they were told they were picking up “an eldery gentleman”! The brought me to the hospital and took me into the emergency room. I met a bunch of nurses and doctors. I kept pointing out the image on my board to them and ended up asking one of them to take a picture of me with it:

“At least he has a sense of humour about it,” the woman from the ambulance said.

The x-rays showed that I had discloated my foot and broken both bones in my right ankle. I ended up having to get my foot “re-set”, which they thankfully knocked me out for. I was afraid it was going to be that scene in the movies where somebody dislocates something and the person who fixes it puts a stick in their mouth and says “This is going to hurt like hell! One… Two… SNAP!”

When I woke up my brother and John where there. I was really groggy for a while but eventually came out of it. John kindly took my car from the skatepark to his place and my brother stayed late into the evening. Around 8:30 I went into surgery where they put some screws and plates in my ankle. I was knocked out for that as well. I spent the night at the hospital, got horrible sleep and waited around most of Sunday for the Physical Therapist to come show me how to use crutches and evaluate wether I was in good enough shape to go home. He gave me the okay and left the hospital around 7:30pm.

The hospital was Good Samaritan Hospital in Suffern and was a very nice place, other than the anesthesiologist who walked right against my foot to which I had to yell “EXCUSE ME!” for him to pay attention. All the nurses were really great and attentive.

So I’m going to be in a cast and on crutches for at least 6 weeks. I’ll probably be doing lots of telecommuting to work during that time. I don’t know that I will jump back into skateboarding when I’m healed up, but I’m glad I took a stab at something I really wanted to try and got a high out of doing it.