My *$&*@#(^%$^#%@* Friend Murphy

Well...it's really not that bad. No need for the harsh icons in my title, but wanted to get your attention so you'd read about my bout with Murphy's Law. So my last post about Dangly McDangle at least elicited a few laughs. More so on the forums than on the blog. I did not go ass-over-teakettle on my trail run either...so all was good. Had a nice easy ride at the Pig on Friday...just wanted a day to enjoy the trails and get a little spin on.

Saturday was National Trails day. A group of about twenty of us went out to prep the trails for the upcoming Xterra Triathlon on June 24th and the GSC Mountain Bike race the following day. Renee and I were in a group that wandered the run portion, as we don't bike over there anymore and we weren't sure about the conditions. A good bit of trimming was all we could do at the time, some mowing will have to be done closer to the day of the event. Unfortunately the map we were using didn't make much sense at all, so we still don't know for sure if that's what we'll actually be running during the tri. At the very least, we know it's something close to what we cleaned up and it's a much nicer run than what we've thus far been practicing. Woo Hoo!

The chain gang...I'm in the front in the blue tee, Renee's
next to me in the yellow and Beth's behind in green!
Thanks for the photo, Mark D!

Renee had to get back to get the lunch ready, so the rest of us met up with the main group for some real trailwork. Carving a new section. This involves using shovels, heavy duty rakes and sometime axes to clear trail. It's hard work, and in June in GA it's hot work too. As our luck would have it we came across two downed trees in the midst of the chosen new path. One was looking kinda rotten so while a chain saw was found for the other, a few of us started chipping away at what was rotten. Quite soon we were down to healthy, hard tree. I had the axe so figured I'd kill time by hacking away. I cut through an entire tree with an axe. I felt so very Paula Bunyan. A fellow trail worker cut through the other side of the obstruction and we moved the tree before the chainsaw finished dealing with the other one. Strong enduro girl...grunt, grumble, grrrrrrrrr. After some grub I did some open water swimming with Debbie & Renee and then ran while Beth rode a lap.

Well...suffice it to say Murphy didn't like my spur of the moment strength training. I woke up with sore arms on Sunday, which I expected, and flipped my plans from Sunday to Monday (Monday was going to be an off day). I took it easy and spent the day with the husband and ate lots of food. My plan was to do two hard laps on the bike on Monday. Alas, Monday came and I was unable to wrap my left hand around the steering wheel without pain. Apparently I bruised/pulled something in my hand, along and under the thumb. Any pressure whatsoever on the inner heel of my hand or any tight grip caused severe discomfort. Arrowhead isn't the kind of place you can ride with a loose grip on the handlebars. A ride was out. I could have just pussed out and taken another off day. My body probably would have liked it. But I was good. I swapped days again and hit the gym. I decided I'd spank Murphy by getting in an awesome swim and maybe doing a little machine running. Swam 3000 yards, hard, and then hit the elliptical for two miles followed by two miles on the treadmill.

Murphy spanked back with sore arms. As I was supposed to open water swim with Renee, this was most heinous of him. Screw you, Murphy, I thought. Renee won't be upset if I take it easy on the swim. She just wants someone there with her. I hit the park early to tackle the running trails again. I figured I'd do 2-3 two mile loops. I carefully tucked my keys into the armband of my MP3 player and took off for the first lap, leaving my water and Cytocrack in the car for chugging between laps as my hand still hurt to grip so I didn't want to carry my water bottle. The run felt good...though I knew the second and third laps would feel better as I'd have oiled up the muscles.

Swung back by the car and no key in my armband. CRAP! I must have thought I put it in my armband and instead locked them in the car with the house keys. I looked longingly at my two water bottles and thought of the phone esconced in the glove compartment. Nothing I could do but wait for Renee to show up, call the husband and have him grumble at having to come unlock the car. Sigh. With a little more than forty minutes to kill I set out for lap two (no I'm not that big an idiot...there's a water fountain mid-route). Gulped down some water with a lovely sulfur bouquet and kept on running. What's that...right in the middle of the trail? GACK! My keys. So glad they didn't pop out in a spot covered in weeds and tall grass. SIGH.

Those two laps went great. Gulped down plenty of the water and CC after the second and did the third feeling good. Murphy, I thought, you've had your fun with me. But now it's time you took a vacation. He didn't think so. In the water, happily having fun with Renee, side and breast stroking since my shoulders and arms were not wanting to crawl, I kicked funny during a side stroke and now the knee feels funny! GREAT. On a side note, Renee had a really great swim!

But I'm not beaten...though I'm bruised and a little wary. I hoped the hand would feel better and I'd be able to ride Arrowhead hard today. I probably could...but I'm worried at what else my body might decide to "tweak". So I'm going to err on the side of caution and hit the Pig for some spinning riding and then take a short, flat trail run before the bike club meeting tonight. I'm not beaten, but I'd also like to give Murphy a break. He's got to be tired after the last couple days!