GILBERT,
ARIZONA
I
have been riding in the garage for some time now for several reasons. First, it
is safe and I don’t have to worry about re-injuring my still mending bones.
Second, it has been very cold this winter. Third, I have been trying to
acclimate to Panama by running on some space heaters and humidifiers to raise
the temperature and the humidity levels in the garage while I ride.
Today
however I wanted to get my last long ride in outside since it was a warm
afternoon and I wanted to spend some time on the bike I would be riding and in
the saddle I would be riding in Panama. I set out to do 45 miles on Garden
Circle. I was doing well, feeling strong and good about my riding fitness with
only 5 miles to go when a woman in a white SUV turned left right in front of
me. I was going about 22-23 miles per hour at the time and I locked up my brakes.
The bike felt like it was on ice. I eventually had to lay it down to avoid
hitting her. While I was still sliding across the asphalt I was already
thinking about the fact that Panama was in 12 days. I went down on my right
side this time. I suffered some bad road rash on my right arm and right leg. My
right shoulder ended up sore and I did some pretty extensive damage to my bike
and destroyed my ipod case and right shoe. I had some bruising on my right quad
and the top of my right foot. I got up
and accessed my body making sure nothing was broken or dislocated. The woman
stopped but did not get out of her car. I told her that I had just got healed
and this was my first long ride outside since September. She apologized and I
was so mad I just told her to go. I should have got her information so I could
submit my bike repair bill to her.
I
walked my bleeding body and broken bike back to the house. Vayden was
horrified. She hates the sight of blood. Then I began the painful process of
taking a shower and scrubbing out all the dirt and gravel that was ground into
my body. I sang a church hymn in the shower to help me with the painful
process. While still in the shower I made a decision. Once out of the shower I
started to get dressed again and Christian asked me what I was doing. I told
him I needed to get my run in, because I knew that I would be too sore in the
next few days to do it. I went out and ran at race pace. Sweat mingled with
blood and dripped from my arm and leg as I ran. Blood, sweat and Tears! The
tears were Vayden’s when she saw me. I only would have cried if I broke
something and had to miss out on Panama. It felt good to run. I was angry and
very happy at the same time to still be functional. I know that I was blessed.
I would suffer some pain and discomfort, but I would be able to race in Panama.
It could have been a lot worse and I know that the Lord was watching out for
me.
I
could not fall asleep until 5:00 am because of the intense burning sensation. I
had trouble sleeping for many days. I stayed out of the pool for a few days,
and when I got back in my scabs turned to this hanging skin that flapped as I
swam and by the end of the swim, it hung down from my arm several inches. I
went home from the gym and Lori was gaging when I asked her to cut it off. Two
days after the accident my neck would
convulse into spasms for most of the day causing some pretty extreme pain. The
neck problem prevented me from training for about two days. This incident
caused me great pain but I was able to come away from it missing very little
training and healthy enough to attempt Panama.
