A couple of weeks ago I was invited to participate in a Paralympic experience put on by Hartford Life. I was very excited to attend this event. It was everything I hoped it would be and more.
The day started out with sled hockey. I was strapped into a sled complete with helmet, neck guard, and two ice picks/hockey sticks to propel on the ice and pass the puck. We were given a couple of minutes to practice before participating in a little friendly competition! During warm-up I have never laughed so hard in my life. I literally thought I was going to pee my pants when my co-worker Holly flipped her sled on it's side and couldn't get up. I don't think I stopped laughing until it happened to me and I was stuck! We lost our first game and won the second (no thanks to anything I did). I was truly amazed by the 3 actual sled hockey athletes that were there. What they do is amazing.
Next we headed inside for some Paralympic trivia and then out for some cross country skiing. Before this I had never cross country skied in my life. It was a good thing that my team's leader was a Paralympic cross country skiier! After a brief crash course in cross country skiing we took a tour of the lap we would be skiing as part of the relay. I thought it would just be a little loop, oh no it was a huge loop complete with an uphill section and a downhill section. I was totally winded after the "warm-up" lap and then told I was only going to get to use 1 pole for the real thing. All I can say is that I made it through my lap of the relay without collapsing and my team captain made up for my pathetic time! All in all it was an incredible day and a wonderful experience.
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