Carondelet 10 mile race

No, I didn't run it; I was a spectator! I set my alarm for the first time in two weeks and went down to support a bunch of friends that were running the race. I figured that I'm likely to get back to work on Tuesday (if the doctor gives the okee dokee on Monday) so I better get used to getting up early again. I had a blast yelling at all of the runners coming in. How fun!

I saw Joel, the trail running fella (in the picture on the left) that was right there with me at Charoleau Gap when I fell two weeks ago. We chatted for quite a while after he finished the race and we 'debriefed the incident' which was good for both of us, I think. I was so glad he was by my side that day. He still couldn't get over how slight of a fall I had and what resulted from it. It confirmed to me what a fluke it was. I think falling on that large stretch of hard rock (which is not really representative of the trails I run on) was just being at the wrong place at the wrong time. You know what that means - still going to be running trails again people. Don't try and talk me out of it! So many people have tried already, but if I avoided everything with risk, what fun would life be? Not very. :)

I saw so many friends today - Sheryl and Steve F., Nancy, Lisa, Steve H., Dennis, Mark, Wayne, Martinho, Dan, Lynn and Joel (both from work), Randy - hope I didn't leave anyone out. It was great seeing so many people I knew. I enjoyed cheering people on - I was glad just to be out there and didn't feel like I was missing out.

I walked 3 miles on Monday, 5.5 on Tuesday, detoxed from painkillers on Wednesday and Thursday (boy, was that painful - besides the take home painkillers, they gave me morphine in the hospital!), and walked 3 miles on Friday. I also got a very used exercise bike on Thursday, which I tried out on low speed for about 25 minutes on Friday. It doesn't feel too good to have blood pumping into my wrist, so I'm keeping my heart rate down for another few days. Getting some exercise really helped me feel like I was reclaiming my life! I felt pretty down last week and longed for the return and comfort of my busy, yet crazy life. A friend of mine suggested I enjoy the down time; it doesn't come very often in life. Point taken.