She's So Lucky

The girls groan as they push through conditioning. "You're so lucky," they say to Kasey and Brittany, who do abs on the side. "I wish I didn't have to do this."

I had those days. Who hasn't? Under stressful circumstances at practice, sometimes I thought how nice it would be to have an excuse. Sit out, no expectations. Of course, not a real injury, I was quick to add to my fantasy. Just enough to bow out of bar routines for the day. I'd be braver the next day, up to the challenge.

In those days I didn't know yet what it was to sit out for days and months.

Brittany's ankles twist if the wind blows hard enough. It makes progressing in her tumbling that much more difficult. Nine out of ten days, she's icing at practice.

Kasey was just diagnosed patellar tendonitis and Osgood-Schlatter's. She can't straighten her knee when she walks.

"Yeah," she says sarcastically. "I'm really lucky."