Hey, it's Vic. I want to let you know that today's episode includes graphic descriptions of a suicide attempt and some strong language.

In three, two, one.

Carrie, how did figure skating become a part of your life?

When I was about eight or nine, my mom saw an article in the local newspaper

about people figure skating and there's one rink in town at the time and it was just a complete

dump with, it was actually like a converted factory and there was like rust dripping onto the ice.

It wasn't even heated at all. It was one of the coldest drinks I've skated at, and it didn't even have real bathrooms. There was like porta-potties.

But somehow at eight or nine, I was not deterred.

And by the time I was in high school, I was commuting every day about an hour and a half

to one of the major training centers, which is the University of Delaware.

So you were getting pretty good.

Yeah, I skated pairs, which is where the guy throws you around and it looks like dangerous.

And I left school every day around 10 or 11 to go to the rink and train, and I would come back at like

six or seven at night and do all my schoolwork by independent study.

So it was pretty much my whole life.

Carrie Blakinger describes herself at this time as an overachiever.

In case that wasn't obvious already.

It takes so much focus and dedication for a teenager to compete with this level of intensity.

And on top of her figure skating training, she was a standout student and wrote for the local newspaper.

Carrie and her skating partner were really good, too. They competed at Nationals two

years in a row where they took fifth place, and they were on track to try to make the Olympics.

But one day, Carrie's skating partner decided he needed a change. I just fell apart. In figure

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