Journey to Kona Day 57: Dusting Off

When I fell yesterday on the trail, I was initially pissed off.  I'd just recovered from a rib injury two weeks earlier, and was excited to be running again.  I actually felt like crying for a moment, although that was for a wide variety of reasons.  Stress release, anger release, all of the stuff that my run and not so regular meditation are supposed to deal with.  I've fallen before, in fact, I've fallen on this trail before.  I remember falling during a race going downhill on the Barr Trail (Pikes Peak), I passed people, I was sliding forward so fast!  That day, after a second fall, I got home, bloodied and battered, promising myself never to run on a trail again.  Not so fast.  I love trail running, although, these falls don't love me.  I remember my bicycle crash at Long Course World's in Perth in October of 2009, I dusted myself off, got back on my bike, rode 48 miles and walked 3 1/2 miles before nearly passing out in the medical tent and being taken to the hospital (broken clavicle and hip socket, by the way).

So, as I sat there, ever so briefly, on the trail, different thoughts and emotions flooded my head.  And then, just as quickly, I dusted myself off, got up, and started running.  I had a 5 mile run to complete in order to get home.  I'd already put in 6 miles on quads that were sore from a hard downhill mile two days earlier.  I knew that adrenaline would kick in and help.  I could only hope that the pain in my left ribcage would not get too bad.  Damn, I'd just recovered from the right rib injury, what was the universe trying to tell me?

That's an interesting question.  When I had my bike crash nearly ten years ago, I felt that the universe was telling me to slow down.  I don't think that's the same message this time, although perhaps there's a subtle version of it.  Things are starting to pick up in my newly (for the third time) retired life.  Opportunities are coming my way. We're moving this week.  I've got Ironman Boulder in less than 10 weeks and Kona in less than 28 weeks.  Maybe the universe was just trying to tell me to be a little more careful when I run on a trail.  I always tend to overthink things.

As I ran home, I did think, it would be hard to complete the last 5 miles of an ironman feeling much worse than this.  Ribcage hurting while breathing, quads sore, body tired.  Hey, that's the perfect ironman training run!  Leave it to an ironman athlete to rationalize like that.  So, another training day in the books.  Probably won't be running again for another week or two, but should be able to put up some stout cycling volume next week.  The swim might be a bit touchy with the rib, but that's ok.  My ego? Well, it's intact.  You've got to find humor in these small stumbles.  And that's the point.  Dust yourself off and keep moving forward.  That's life, that's ironman.