Soon as I hit I knew

that I had messed up my ribs. That was as I caught my breath laying on the ground. While mountain biking at Umstead last Thursday morning, I took a very hard fall. I was riding along the Turkey Creek trail near the bridge. The trail was loose due to all the recent dry weather. The clay/ gravel turns powdery the longer it is dry. I was going downhill and had slowed to turn across the bridge. The front tire went left and I went right, down the hill as gravity intended. The impact knocked the breath out of me. I struggled to catch my breath, I just lay there after breathing again. A lady runner came up and asked if should could help. I asked for my cell phone and water bottle. She offered to push my bike to the top of the hill. Then I realized, I have to get back to my damn car. I mounted the bike covered in sweat and clay. I thought this is really gonna screw up my training. After getting home and still struggling to breath and move, I decided to go to the local urgent care that Charlene located. After an assessment and a few X-RAYS it was determined that I cracked one rib in front and boke the other in the back on my right side. Prognosis. 4-6 week recovery. Treatment. Pain meds and oh, don't have any trauma to your chest in the next few weeks. I will try to avoid that. So, the first bones I have ever broken have to be this? How do I sneak in a ride tomorrow without Charlene knowing?

Video of Mountain Biking in Scotland

HandI Adventures - Hans Rey, Steve Peat, Danny MacAskill from ResetFilms.co.uk on Vimeo.

Small steps back

Last Wednesday I started helping Fleet Feet of Raleigh with their beginning trail running program. The goal is for the runners to do a 5 k trail race in August. I figured this would be a good way to give back now that my knees cannot handle much running. My friend Jessi is out there as well as a client from my dog walking business. We started out with a 30 minute out and back run on non- technical trails. The first run went well enough with no pain in my knees. My quads were sore for 2 days afterwards because I had not really run since April. Today was a perfect day for running, low humidity and low temps. Lake Johnson in Raleigh has a few miles of easy trails. This time my body started responding well to the running. It seems to be made for running and my heart and lungs still get me down the trail. What a joy. If I only had good knees, the worlds I could conquer!