Everyone has different pain tolerance. Everyone has a different ‘ick’ factor-level. Yesterday, someone plucked off a strange-looking, long-legged bug from my pant leg. My ick-factor level was at maybe 2. My mother-in-law goes to the dentist for extensive work and doesn’t get numb. God bless her. I am white-knuckled at the site of a dental drill.

Today, world champion downhill skier Lindsey Vonn crashed during her first Super-G run at an event in Austria. These world-class athletes spend their lives training, re-training, suffering and healing. They are wired to perform. What’s amazing about this spectacular fall is that the woman is barely in the hospital and the writers are already saying she’ll return for the 2013-14 skiing season.

I fell down two steps while on vacation a couple of years ago and I thought my head was going to explode. I can’t even imagine the pain suffered in a spill like that. These world-class athletes are wired with adrenalin. They get high on the competition; the rush of the event and succeeding. However, there are sports psychologists who make (I’m sure) an excellent living listening and talking these athletes back to their competitive levels after a horrible injury. While many mount a successful comeback, so many do not. That must be crushing. But oh, the thrill and the joy they had during their successes. No pain – no gain. Heck, I could do without the pain.