The Best Day Ever- By Katie Fankhouser

Today was the best day ever. Today was big water beatdown Thursday, and it was epic! For those of you who don't know what this is, it's basically where all the keener's do something that scares them. For many of us that was getting owned by the Phil's hole, and for others it was just running some more technical lines. As a first time Keener I had heard about Beatdown Thursdays and I could not wait! I had the option to go into left side Phil's but that really wasn't much out of my comfort zone. Instead, I opted to go with something that had me shaking in my booties a little. Because that's what Thursdays in Keenerville are all about; going out of your comfort zone and breaking through mental boundries. I chose to go full send on the first try, so I went in to the right side of Phil's hole. When I dropped in, the foam pile hit me with a 'breath taking' amount of force. I was surfing pretty well until things went South and so did I. I window shaded and unintentionally cartwheeled just long engugh for me to miss oxygen. My paddle got ripped out of one hand. And my back twisted and my spine cracked like it was it's job. Luckily, I managed to snatch a solid breath of air in the midst of my tumblung, I got ahold of my paddle again and I guess that was just what my back needed because now it feels even better than before! Today I learned alot about my own paddling skills and personal boundries as well as how to have the best day ever getting the begeebees pumbled out of you by whitwater.