Third Time's a Charm-Revised

Went 36 years without a broken bone. Now have had one in three consecutive years. Two small fractures in the foot from a severe sprain as a result of trying (note I said trying) to dunk a basketball at a trampoline park. Seriously? The good news is that the injury is fairly minor and recovery time shouldn't be long. But c'mon.

Test of Metal: Take Three

This is the third time I've registered for this race. First time, i had a mechanical DNF, the second i had an injury DNS. Wonder what this year holds? Third time's a charm? Hope so. I've registered under the category 'recreational' as they didn't have 'middle aged fat guy' as an option. Although, with a moments reflection, the two may be synonymous. Looking forward to it. 

Arm

This is a bit old, but here's a couple 'snaps' of what the arm looked like before it was repaired and after the dressing was removed. Inside is 6 bolts and a plate. Two weeks plaster splint and gauze. The bandages were black which i was told is normal. It seemed like a lot of blood. Bruising on the underside of the arm was hard as a rock as it was filled with blood.

Bike Racing

Been a while. Lots going on since last post.
Three big things to note: I broke my arm, it seems I'm morphing into a cyclist, and we added another member to our family.
First, the new addition. Our youngest was born January 21, 2013 and we named her Dora after my wife's grandmother. For those of you keeping score at home, that's three girls with no more kids to come. In 13 years I will have a 19 year old daughter, a 17 year old daughter, a 14 year old daughter and a 51 year old wife. I'm scheduled to begin my Ironman training in 2026.
Second, I spent more time riding my bike than running this year. Well, that's not technically correct, but I 'raced' 5 times on my bike ( 3 CX races and two fondo type long rides) registered for the Test of Metal but had to miss it due to injury and only raced one running race this year. I partially blame RunningGunner's bad influence, but in reality it's mostly because
3) I broke my arm, more specifically my olecranon, basically the tip of my elbow. I fell off my bike commuting home and broke the end off. 6 bolts, a metal plate and a few weeks recovery had me good as new. I've almost got full use back but cant quite straighten it all the way and likely wont be able to again.
I have some gnarly pics of the arm and some adorable pics of my little girl. I'll try and make a point of posting some of each this week.
Off to St. Louis on Wednesday for Thanksgiving. Looking for ideas of things to do and good run route from those in the know.

A Failing Grade

Toed the line at another event that Brian talked me into. This time, it was a 67km mountain bike race, the Test of Metal, in Squamish BC. I've never really put in any serious miles on the bike, and at 67k the race would be about the longest I'd ridden a bike, period, through some pretty epic terrain.
I didn't really know what to expect but figured going into it worst case scenario, it's a nice long slow ride through the scenic Howe Sound forest.
Weather reports were looking pretty good at the start of the week, but by Friday morning, the weather for Saturday race day was warm and 100% chance of precipitation. They were calling for about 30 ml of rain in the afternoon and we got every drop.
Saturday was pouring rain as expected, and me and Gunner lined up with the other 800 riders to get to it. Self seeded and lined up near the back of the pack.
Race started with a long climb out of town through the neighbourhood and even in the nasty weather there were still quite a few families that came out to support the riders. Thanks for all you who showed up. It was much appreciated.
After about a half and hour, the course cut into the singletrack, and about 10 seconds after that, I was covered in mud and had a half pound of sand in my eye.
Rolling singletrack, fire road descents, sweet rooty snaky lines under the heavy canopy. It was awesome, and with the heavy tree cover I really didn't notice that it was raining that hard. or maybe it's because I was already soaked. Either way, feeling good and starting to move up through the field. Our self seeding had been a bit conservative.
After the course popped out of the canopy, Brian dropped me on a windy steep section. I caught up to him and he took off, encouraging me to hurry up. The top of the climb was close and the next few kms were banked downhill corners where we could make up a lot of ground on the field if we hustled.
At the top I noticed that my brakes were getting a little spongy and mentioned to Gunner that I should have got new pads. within a minute or two, my levers were to my bars and the wheels were still rolling. I had lost all stopping power!
I popped my feet out of the pedals and dragged them in the mud to stop and jumped into the bushes at the side of the course to prevent from getting run over.
The lines of my brakes had blown and I lost all the fluid as I pumped my levers coming down the hill. Nothing that could be repaired except in a bike shop, so my race was over after about 2 hours. Had to run my bike down this killer singletrack that I would have loved to ride to get to the junction and ask how to get to the finish line.
Long walk back to the finish. People were really cool about asking if i needed anything on my way back, but i got kind of bummed having to keep saying 'No thanks, i'm done'.
Got back to the finish line and had a realization: Brian and I rode up together and I don't have a key for his vehicle.
He was expecting a 5 hour finish, meaning I had three hours in the rain to wait for him.
Luckily, the guys from Daryl Evans racing had a trailer and a tent up there so i managed to find some shlter for a bit and mooch a jacket.
After a long wet wait, gunner came rolling up with a broken bike as well. Done in by his own kindness, his race report is on his blog.
So, all in all, a short day, and a disappointment. But, legs felt good and I was having a blast up till the mechanical.
The event was great: right at the finish line they had a bike wash set up to hose off the mud. The race starts and ends at a rec center, and outside the pool there they had two dudes with garden hoses using warm water to hose down the riders. Race entry included a free pass to the aquatic center, so after the hose bath, into the pool for a nice warm shower and a hot tub.
Definitely heading back next year with better training, repaired bike, and hopes for better weather.

update

saw the specialist at the cast clinic at the hospital last week. hairline fracture of the patella. luckily, the crack didn't go all the way through and the interior face of the patella that makes up the knee joint was not displaced. meaning: treatment is no lower body exercise for four to five weeks, another set of x-rays and a gradual return to running etc provided that things are healing up nicely. avoided a big splint and more importantly surgery.
feeling very fortunate. 

Snap

finally went to the doctor. doctor sent me for xrays. back to the doc. back for more rays. wait. wait. wait. fractured patella.

Receptionist phoned me Tuesday: you need to see the orthopedic immediately, you have an appointment at the cast clinic at the hospital on Friday. Bring a book. oh, and take it very, very easy between now and then.

*click*

so there's that.