The short recap for last year goes like this: my 2018 was awesome, in spite of a couple of missed targets. I was able to run a number of races (14 trail, 1 road), some of which were new to me and had been on my to-do list for a few years (Escarpment, Loon, etc.), and remain injury-free. I also had a lot of great miles with friends old and new, and even paced my friend Liz on her first 50k run! Although I hadn't hit my big goal of completing the 100-miler, I closed out the year well. I planned out my 2019 race schedule (yes, already!), and kicked off the new year with a gnarly 25-mile trail run with some badass CT Trailmixers on the Metacomet/Mattabesett trails in Meriden. Perfect! I also started a trail running group, the Dark Sky Trail Runners, to get people together for group runs in Eastern CT and Rhode Island, and have had some very successful group runs already!
Things only improved from there. I consistently racked up some quality miles, and did my first Ultra of the year on 2/2, the TARCtic Frozen Yeti, where I slogged out 31 miles on an icy, technical course in freezing temps. Good times with friends!
This guy.
As of mid-February I was already closing in on 250 miles for the year, a personal best in historically the two lowest-mileage months of the year for me?
And then, on Valentine's Day, it happened:
My inner workings. About as exciting as I'd figured.
John P. and I had plans to run 8-10 miles in Arcadia, and although it was chilly and the ground icy in places, the Sun was out and we forged ahead. We made our way up the long, meandering climb and descent on the dirt roads to get to the Ben Utter trailhead, part of the 50k trail race I'm designing. The roads were icy, but the trails were only icy in the middle and as long as you stayed to the edges the footing was totally fine. We made it to Stepstone Falls without incident, stopped to take in the terrace of waterfalls that's one of Rhode Island's gems, and headed back the other way. John took a spill in some rocks but emerged unscathed. We SHOULD HAVE turned onto the dirt roads and kept things to the agreed-upon 8-10 miles, but it was a nice day and John and I turned onto the Breakheart Trail, which would add some mileage/hills/degree of difficulty to the run...
We were about 9 miles in, and as we made a turn on a very flat, not-at-all-technical stretch of singletrack, I hit some ice. As my feet went out from under me, I reached out to grab a small tree, missed, and my right side slammed into the tree with all my weight. Crunch. I got the wind knocked out of me, and as I lay on my back trying to breathe, I was pretty sure something got broken. After a couple of minutes I was able to get up and start walking.
As John and I continued on, I did the math and realized we had about 4 miles to go, just to get back to our trucks. I was able to walk/jog the rest of the way, drive home to shower, and quietly make my way to the walk-in clinic, where Lori met me and I confirmed through X-rays that I'd broken 3 ribs. Well then, what now?
Fortunately the doctor at the clinic is a trail runner. Our conversation went like something like this:
Doc: So you're a trail runner?
Me: Yup.
Doc: You do Ultras?
Me: Yup!
Doc: Yeah, my brother lives in Hawaii and runs with HURT (Hawaii Ultra Running Team), he's trying to get me to do one.
Me (eyes lit up): They put on the HURT trail race, that's on my bucket list! Brutal!
Doc: Yeah, I'm working up to that...so where did this happen?
Me: Breakheart Trail in Arcadia. Parked in Midway.
Doc: That must have sucked, getting back to your car...
Me: It did. Now, how long am I out of commission for?
Doc: You're in good physical shape otherwise, so after a week or two (Lori rolls eyes), you can start easing back into some light physical activity. You'll know pretty quick whether it's too soon or not.
Me: We're going to England in a few weeks, how about I wait to start running until then?
Doc: Sounds good! Here (hands me a plastic contraption with a hose sticking out of it), breathe through this 10 times an hour, every hour, for a week. We don't want you back here with pneumonia. Here's a prescription, it's all about pain management and deep breathing so your lungs don't fill up with liquid (wait, WHAT???), because that makes the healing take much longer. OK?
Me: Okay...
Doc: Good luck! Follow up with your GP in a week, and I'll see you on the trails.
So here we are, a little over a week after the accident. I used the breathing thingy as instructed, only took pain meds when I absolutely had to (not a fan of pills), and after 5 or 6 sleepless nights (ribs broke around the back side and I just could NOT get comfortable) I'm pretty much pain-free and moving around pretty good. Yesterday I decided to go for a walk, as my ribs might be broken but the legs still work. Got 6 miles in at a steady walk on fire road and singletrack trail and felt good.
My takeaways from the "rib incident":
- It was going to happen eventually. You can't make an omelet without breaking a few eggs...
- Broken bones suck. They make everything more difficult, uncomfortable and in some cases, damn near impossible.
- Sleep is awesome when you can get it. Also, breathing.
- More core work!
- Follow doctor's orders and you'll be better off over time.
- I really love trail running, and even a week away from the woods is too long!
The healing continues. I'm sleeping better every night, feeling stronger by the day and I'll be ready for my next race, which isn't until the end of April. I'm looking at this to be a breakout year for me for running, and I've set some big goals, along with making a few lifestyle changes, to give me a better chance of success at what I'm planning. I have my race schedule set, and while it looks heavy on the surface, there are really three big races that I'm focused on:
Three very different events, each with its own unique challenges. The first, a long and hilly but not technical race with an iconic history, the Vermont 100. The second, a gnarly, hilly and technical point-to-point trail race in one of my favorite places to run, upstate NY, the Twisted Branch 100k. Third, a long and pretty flat but quite scenic trail race in England in Autumn, the aptly named Autumn 100 outside of London.
In the meantime, I'll continue to train as soon as I can start running again. My first race is the Lake Waramaug 50-miler in Western CT in April, so plenty of time to build things up! I'll post updates and assorted things as I can, but for now I'm really looking forward to getting out and running again!
----Crutch
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