It’s hard to believe that, less than four months ago, Tarah was lying in a hospital bed after having surgery and now, just a few months later, we are preparing for an international competition. What isn’t hard to believe is how hard it actually was … and how hard it still is, to recover.

Tarah skated with injury for the entirety of the 2013-2014 season, having been told by doctors that there was nothing she could do about the pain she was enduring. Injections, therapy sessions and three international medals later and we were into the new season. With her pain increasing to an unmanageable level, we knew we had to do something about it.

Enlisting the help of US Figure Skating and the USOC, Tarah and Danny were brought to the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs. Dr. Marc Philippon performed Tarah’s hip surgery on July 28th and she spent the next month and a half rehabbing at the OTC, alongside Olympic and Paralympic athletes who aided in her recovery. Having packed for a six-day trip, and having stayed for six weeks, things were not going well in the wardrobe department. (A big thanks goes out to Madison Hubbell, Zach Donohue and Jason Brown for hanging out with Tarah anyway – you are the real MVPs!).

As any athlete would agree, anyone who told us “no” along the way only added fuel to the fire. Tarah was dead set on being able to compete in the two Grand Prix competitions to which the team had been invited, and we pushed tirelessly for the chance to be writing this update from Moscow instead of Florida; however, looking at the situation realistically, we chose to make an investment in our future together as a team and give the surgery more time to heal properly instead of risking re-injury. As the haunting words of OTC physical therapists remind Tarah every day, “Did you like having this surgery? Because you’re going to have to have it again if you’re not careful.” There’s pushing hard, and then there is pushing too hard, and right now, we live on the balance in between.

Luckily, we are really good at balancing.

Three weeks after our planned Grand Prix competitions, we will be taking the ice again for Team USA at Golden Spin in Zagreb, Croatia.

Better late, than never.

We would like to thank US Figure Skating, the US Olympic Committee, the Olympic Training Center, IMG Academy, our coaching staff and medical team for helping to aid in our recovery and for your belief in our future.

We could not have reached this point without you.

Tarah & Danny