Sunday, October 25, 2009

Worlds and my first DNF

Another story and another lesson (though I have to ponder what it is). Swim went great, very tough, 2/3 of swim was against a strong current, but I maintained a very solid effort and stayed with the bulk of my wave. Good transition and started out on the bike. Less than 1k from the start I somehow, trying to stay on the left (it's Australia), I drifted into a sandy gutter and the next thing I new I was going down. I was probably going ±25mph when I had a pretty spectacular crash, as my bike went down onto the curb and the grass on the sideof the road. I slid a good 20-30 feet. Spectators came to my aid, got my bike and encouraged me to keep going (go USA!). I did, and completed the bike with as hard an effort as I could muster,knowing that I was not right. I think I kept close to 20 mph despite very windy conditions. I knew my left shoulder was not good, and had a recurring twinge in my left hip. But, I didn't come to Perth not to finish! As soon as I got off the bike, however, I knew that I couldn't run. I spent 20 minutes in the medical tent where they injected my presumed grade 2 shoulder separation with lidocaine. I had range of motion in my left hip, despite the pain, so I got up and walked the 1st 5k loop, although the pain in my groin kept getting worse. After the loop I went back to the medical tent, came very close to passing out, very close. That got me a trip to the hospital. Diagnosis: small avulsion fracture (bone chip) left clavicle, and a small chip in the left actetabulum (hip). No major fractures, but certainly reason to be in pain and hardly being able to walk. I will heal from this, and contemplate my future:). In the meantime, I will enjoy the rest of my vacation, albeit with less walking and pretty much one arm:). As always, I gave it my best effort! I was proud to wear the red white and blue and perservere.