Don't Fear Where You Will Tread

We take our running very seriously....

"We could dress up as a banana and a gorilla!!" They were definitely at the first Thanksgiving. "Yah! I'll try to find a banana costume and if not we'll do pilgrims or something boring." And that's how Molly and I decided to dress up for the Turkey Trot. Somehow my roommate was able to materialize a banana costume for me and Molly already had a gorilla costume (their costume box runs pretty deep). We both lasted about 50 yards into the run before I lost my top (to the wind, found it though) and Molly took off her mask so she could breath. A 5k is one of those distances that attracts all levels of fitness, from those high school cross country kids to the couch potatoes who are just walking it. Any time we passed a kid and their parent the parent would say to the kid, "You're not going to let a gorilla and a banana pass you, are you?" Clearly because we're dressed in costumes we don't exude any level of fitness. It was a good run, neither of us wore watches and weren't really concerned with our time. Which was good because I'm trying to soften my competitive spirit just until I get my mojo back so I don't go off getting hurt again. 

Cannibalism?

I'm not sure if I'm a fan of the medication they put me on for my traumatic brain injury (TBI). I like it but I don't. I think it's been helping. I actually walk out of stores and don't have to walk around pressing the panic button to find my car. But I still have to set an alarm to remind myself to take it. I started it a few weeks ago and the first two days I didn't get out of bed until late in the afternoon. I did but only to take the medicine and then go back to bed. I started it explicitily on a weekend because one of the side effects was drowsiness and I seem to be sensitive to that sometimes. I was worried about going into work  the next day but luckily it switched to one of the other side effects, insomnia. Which at least gives me more time for activities. If I fall asleep early I wake up really early (Like 4:30 and I'm ready to start the day) or I'll just wake up through the night. That went on for about 3 weeks until my doctor suggested trying melatonin and sleepytime tea. Which worked well until I woke up at 2:30am having to pee.

Between the TBI state, the medicated state, and what I think my normal state will be eventually I'm not sure which part is controlling what. I was going to go for a night ride for the first ride with my cast, which I didn't think it would be that bad (even though I'm pretty sure the guys at the shop did an over/under on how bad I was going to crash). It's probably a good thing one of the guys I was going with decided it was too cold for the short amount of time we'd be out. I was super gung-ho about it, but I think that was the medication, because post-concussion I haven't had a great time night riding, and normal me doesn't really like to be cold when I ride. I did go for a ride by myself with my cast and realized I could either hold the handlebar or use the break. The ride was uneventful pretty short, I did a  non technical trail and I didn't go over the handlebars like one of the guys at the shop thought I would, so that's a win. 

Pretty sure I walked this part

I did do another ride this past weekend with Wayne and one of his friends. We ended up going to Hall Ranch outside of Boulder, which can be challenging when you don't have a cast on but I warned them I would be slow and they didn't seem to care. It starts with a nice technical climb up, which it made me feel better when Wayne walked some of the sections too. I did crash on the way up, I was going pretty slow and thought about trying to catch myself but because I was falling to my left I didn't want to put out my broken wrist to try and stop myself so I just kind of rolled into it, but apparently not enough because I bruised up my knee, forearm and scratched my cast. The ride down though was pretty delicious. I opted to not use my front break and instead hang onto the handlebar which made me alter my riding style. I think for the better though, it felt more mellifluous, I was more conscious of what my body was doing and wasn't reacting to what I thought it was going to do. Now all I want to do is ride my bike and get back to that euphoric place. I saw my doctor the next day to get a new cast (It was looking pretty rough before I fell on it). She asked how riding with it was going. I told her, "Well I can either hold the handlebar or use the break, but not both." She said, "Oh, well that's probably okay just going on the bike path and stuff." 
"...Yah, I did Hall Ranch yesterday." 

After the ride

"You did Hall Ranch, with your cast? All those rocks? Are you trying to get badass points? You really shouldn't tell me those things." I almost replied to tell her it was a sound decision to cast it as I fell on my wrist, but it's like when you do something and after you're like, welp I'm alive and not hurt so my mom probably doesn't need to know, so just left it at that. Plus I was trying to get badass points.


I've started trying to figure out what rides/events I want to do next summer. I think it was spurred by a recent date (I think it was a date but jury's still out) that made me realize I need another reason not to date for a year. See the date I went on before this one I offered to split the check and the guy took me up on it. When the guys at the shop caught wind of that they were appalled and told me "Done, next, you're not seeing him again." With this guy he seemed pretty cool and I wanted to be able to see him again so when the check came I got really nervous and just awkwardly sat there and didn't say anything.

It might happen

He ended up paying and probably thinking I'm a huge brat. It basically fizzled out after that, which is probably good but somewhat unfortunate because he is a good biker. I told Molly I need to just stop eating with boys, she suggested I stop making out with them first. Good point. So that's how I started thinking about what to do next. I was on this kick for about 2 days to do the Leadman Series which is a marathon, 10K, 50 mile bike, 100 mile bike, and 100 mile run in about the span of 7 weeks. I was super enthusiastic too. I was asking people about training and what it would take to get to that running level. Even though I still really want to do it, I'm pretty sure it's the medicine talking. Let's be real, normal me has never actually trained for a running event, including the marathon. Soo 100 mile run, yah that's a really good idea, thanks a lot you sneaky little red pills. I still have till March 2nd to sign up for it and even though I want to I know it's not a good idea.

Yah....about that....

Like when you're drunk and a package shows up 4 days later because you went home and shopped online and you're like, "oh yah, I did do that, that wasn't the best idea" that is what it would be like when I get off the medicine but I still would have to run 100 miles. Luckily I got a less destructive kick a little later. I was looking at the Breckenridge 100, another 100 mile bike race a few weeks before Leadville. It's more technical and said to be harder than Leadville. Fortunately that can be done in a team of 3. I quickly contacted a few people who are into cross country racing and solidified a team. Now there is no way I can sign up for the Leadman series. The Leadman series would be fun in a very bizarre way. The Breckenridge 100 will just be fun in an awesome way.