The Truth; Sometimes it’s Ugly, and sometimes it Hurts
The Blog post that just wouldn’t come. Sometimes it’s writers block or something similar; usually, I have something to say, it’s just sometimes:
Do I want to say it?
How do I want to say it?
How will I find the words to properly express myself, make myself heard clearly…
My Broken Foot.
Yea, it’s pretty much healed, Thank God. Today, for some reason, it has hurt way bad, and again, it felt like it was ‘free floating’ and hitting some nerves.
The reason I broke my foot:
some people may say, oh, you broke your foot because you were wearing your toe shoes off road.
Even I wanted to believe it. Yes, the part of me wearing my toe shoes off road while I broke my foot is true.
I, however, did not break my foot because I was wearing my toe shoes.
The TRUTH:
I broke my foot because my running mechanics were horrible.
It took me a long time to own this fact; after analyzing how it was I actually broke my foot.
I’m sure my mechanics are still horrible, but they are definitely better. They get better every day. And I will continue to work on them, until they are perfect.
My little toe got ‘caught’ on the top of the rock, which really I should have landed on my fore foot and bounded up instead of scrape the top of my foot.
It has been my blessing, breaking my foot.
1st off, I have been doing a lot of upper body strengthening. I have a friend, he is a really good friend from the 90’s. My friend Bradley Ray races for Team USA. He’s done close to 40 marathons. In his wheel chair. I can’t even do 1 pull up. Brad is my inspiration. I am not going to stop doing pull ups until I can do 10; in all directions and angles. I do this all because my friend Brad is an amazing person, an amazing athlete, and compared to his accomplishments, I am totally pathetic.
I am getting my arms back. I still can’t do any lunges, don’t really want to stress the foot that way, so maybe before long, I will get my ass back too. Until then, well, I dedicate my ‘mini’ pull ups to my amazing friend Brad who has made a way through my brain, that says, don’t stop until you can do 30 pull ups. Thanks Brad for being totally amazing and an inspiration to more people than you will ever know. And I know, since you totally kick ass you will be headed to Brazil for the Olympics. And I hope by then, I can do some pull ups!!
The other blessing about breaking my foot. I broke my toe back in 7th grade. My big toe. And I have realized, that a lot of my foot mechanics are skewed because that toe I broke back 1977. JK, I don’t know the year. I guess, it would have been 1981. But I just thought, ’77 sounded like a good year.
So after all these years, I am finally getting my foot back to where it should be. That feels really good, most of the time. It is kinda weird, learning new mechanics, but when they fall into place, it’s like I am flying and free.
I have started my adventures, again, it it feels so good.
So very good. When the stars aren’t in alignment for doing what you want to do: i.e. breaking your foot, then, it really allows more appreciation to flow through us when we’re doing what we’re passionate about again.
I have begun mountain biking on the back side of the mountain. One of my favorite race series, is one here in New Mexico, called New Mexico Endurance Series. It’s not really a series. I found them the 1st year I did Leadville. I have never finished an event. I have been chased down the mountain both times from weather. The 1st time during Cochiti 100 by a tornado and the 2nd time from Big Friggin’ Loop just a bad storm.
They have a new event; Watermelon Beatdown. It’s going to be hard, it’s not a beat down, it’s a blessing.
I have a goal: to ride my bike from my house to the top of the mountain via King of the Mountain.
All of the trails on the back side of the mountain, I didn’t know you could ride your bike on them until recently, when my friend Rose told me about them.
Yea, I have ridden King of the Mountain. And that is a sweet trail!
Now this Watermelon Beat Down, it has given me the ‘map’ of the trails up there.
I’m not afraid to go up there by myself. I trust my riding, I trust myself knowing I will not get in over my head.
This week I am either going to ride from the Tram to the Agave over looking HWY 40 and the Canyon.
Or I am going to the back side of the mountain to get lost in the peace of the Universe.
So the week before last, I parked the car at Tramway and Central and rode through the Canyon.
The beginning of the ride was a challenge. My heart rate would not go over 105, and I felt so tired at times, I was just standing upright on the bike, not moving. I almost turned around. But I let it go, and I knew that the cement factory was right there and with the cement factory, I can feel sick, dizzy, nauseous all of those things I used to feel when I lived in the gas patch, or when I am around things like cement factories, gas plants, power plants, and sulfur springs and places like in the Silver Rush in Leadville, the old abandoned mines. So I didn’t quit. What I said, was, when I head North at Tijeras if I still feel this way, I’m am literally sick. Not just sick of chemicals in the air. So that’s exactly what I did.
And I was fine. It was the direction of the wind, filled with the whatever emissions are from a cement factory. So as I headed up towards the Crest, my ride became that, my ride. A great ride too.
I rode to Doc Long. A trail I have never been on.
My directions tell me to take Doc Long to some blah, blah, blah Corridor to Tree Springs.
So that’s exactly what I did.
And it is so amazing up there! Some of the trails reminded me of Holzinger in Winona, MN.
Some of them, reminded me of this place or that place.
All of it reminded me of how free I feel when I am doing what I truly love.
I did realize that non of ‘my friends’ have taken me on these trails. To which, I realized this made me quite sad.
This is where I made a navigational error. I ended up on the road, at which point, I said; what the frack, I’m headed to the ski area.
I didn’t have anything left to head up to KOM. Plus, I was quickly running out of time before I had to pick up my little monkeys from school. And if it’s getting close to the time of picking up the little monkeys from school, that also means that it’s time for the cougars and bears to find their dinner.
The only “Beatdown” of this ride so far that I can tell, is the beat down I experienced going West through the Canyon into the wind after riding 40 miles and climbing 4000 feet. And that is not part of the event.
I have way more to share, but will perhaps leave it for another day.
Although my little monkeys know they have lights out at 9, it’s 9:23 and they are busy beavers. I don’t want to be the nag, but that which I did not want to become, is exactly what I have.