“Maybe you should eat something.” 

We should just skip riding the Big Mick and go ride trails. The night before the Big Mick, Wayne and I met some friends to ride some trails in The Hills. I’ve ridden a couple before but was most pleasantly surprised by how amazing they were. Enough to make me want to make the trip to see my parents more often! It’s actually pretty incredible and exciting how much mountain biking seems to be developing in the hills. 

Wayne I got to Lead pretty late because we did the ride, everyone in my room was already in bed so no one was willing to help me contemplate which shoes to wear on the ride (it’s rough being a girl). I might have woken them up, but they said they would gladly pay me back in the morning when they woke up at 4:30 to start riding. For some reason I have a problem anytime I have to set an alarm with a 4 in it, banking on that I would be able to ride fast, Wayne and I decided to set out closer to 8. Which was a great plan, until we showed up at the start to learn that the Sag Wagon that was taking all the drop bags had already left. Womp womp. Luckily I could consolidate my camelbak, and overnight bag into my gear bag and ride that way. It definitely made me regret packing 2 pairs of shoes…. 

It took me a while to get into a groove especially focusing on the thought that I was going to be on my bike all day. Then I stopped and started focusing on the fact that I’d get to eat Dew Drop when I was done. That helped. Wayne and I

He loves it when I take his picture

went back and forth pulling and cruised into the first aid station and thankfully found a car headed to Edgemont and unloaded our bags. We probably should have gotten their names but our bags showed up at the end so it worked out. Breakfast was wrapping up so I mainly just stuck to eating watermelon and pineapple. There is so much food on this ride that you really have to watch it or else it’s really easy to over eat. It’s like the Rag Ride in Iowa, except with food instead of booze. 

Wayne and I made bets on where we would meet up with the rest of the crew and I thought it would be closer to the lunch station but he thought it would be before. I like the section of the trail that goes between Rochford and Hill City, it’s tucked away from a lot of roads and you go through 3 tunnels which we also talked about how funny it would be to wait and scare someone but sinceeveryone we knew was in front of us we kept going. We caught up with Molly, Barb, Eric, Laura and Jessie at the aid station in Hill City. I ate some more oranges and then Wayne decided to hang back with them and I took off. It’s only about 15 miles between that one and the lunch one but has a nice little climb in it. Nothing too steep just gradual and steady. The lunch station is about 54 miles into the ride and I was just under 4 hours in ride time. Perfect. I saw Abe here and seeing the line for lunch food and the bathroom decided to keep going. Especially because the next aid station is always the best. 

Between lunch and the next aid station always seems to be the hardest for me. I can only relate it to being a sophomore, where the new has worn off and you’re just stuck but can’t get out of there fast enough. The trail is more exposed and you start to creep into more of the prairie and the wind can be pretty nasty. I just kept pushing and it helped that there was always someone in front of me to focus on and work on catching. I cruised into Denise’s aid station and once again was not disappointed in the slightest bit. So many delectable treats! The rest of the group was here so talked to them while I ate some peanut m&ms. Did I say some? I meant too many. You know that feeling when you don’t feel full and then all of a sudden you do. I hit that point pretty fast. Welp, nothing to do but keep riding I suppose and hopefully I don’t cramp. Those little buggers just sat in my stomach like brick. For those of you who have caught onto the fact that my stomach isn’t made out of any robust material, but more like Chantilly lace. I’m guessing you know what happens next. With about 20 miles left I threw up on the trail. What’s most impressive is that I didn’t even stop riding, and I’m pretty amazed that I didn’t crash. Once that was gone I felt immensely better and was able to keep pushing. The rest of the ride was pretty uneventful, no snakes, no more puke, no mechanical issues. I got to the 100 mile mark at 6:57, which I was hoping to be under 7 hours. Unfortunately not realizing the course was 109 miles I still had a ways to go. I finished right at 7:38 and only had Mary there to meet me, it helped that she was driving the course and not riding. After refilling my water and joking around with her for a bit decided there wasn’t much else to do but keep riding.

Everyone made it!

I began doubling back, which was great because A.) everyone I passed going in thought I was a huge bad ass because they thought I was going back up to Lead and B.) I could tell everyone they were going the wrong way. I passed everyone in the group again and when I reached Molly, Eric, Laura and Jessie turned around to go back to Edgemont with them. It was nice getting some added miles in, while being able to catch up and talk to those guys. 

One day Mary will ride a bike.

That night I made my family go to Dew Drop, not so much made them but told them that’s where I was eating and they could join if they wanted to, which why anyone would say no I’m not sure. I placed my order and since Mary was meeting us there I added her order into mine. My mom went after me and informed the waitress that “it’s okay, she biked 140 miles today.” Then asked me what Mary wanted, I informed her I ordered for her too, “Oh! I thought all that food was for you!” 

I finished the day with 140 miles and about 3600 feet of climbing. I laid in bed later that night and thought about how my body felt like it had been through a war. I realized that I’m waging a war with Leadville and every day I train I’m preparing my body for the battle.

This past week I did my first training ride at Leadville with 36 miles and 3800 feet of climbing. I’m also signing up for the Leadville 50 which is 50 miles and about 7,000 feet of climbing. It’s going to be awesome. 

I hope they have corn dogs in Leadville!

“So, uh, the guys say you might have crashed on your ride yesterday….”
“Might of? Oh no, I definitely, definitely did.” Good news is that I remember it. It was the first crash since the big crash where it was more than me just falling over and getting a bruise. It was my first time on that particular trail and I might have gotten a little a head of myself. It starts with about an hour climb up to the top, which because of this the trial is never super crowded. At the top you loop back and around and get sling shotted back on to part of the trail you climbed up. Descending was incredible, we started on swooping, fast, smooth, morning cup of coffee trail then it connects into a section that is a little more

Time to restock…

rough with sharper turns and bigger drops. I had cleared everything and was about to hit the last drop before you cross a creek climb up a bit and then are essentially done. I had a little too much speed and wasn’t far enough back so I essentially hucked myself and my bike off, but forgot to roll. My shoulder took the brunt of it followed by my hip, knee and lastly my head. My head was more of a slide across the trail and not a full contact. It still made me nervous so I crawled off to the side of the trail and just sat there. I told one of the guys I was riding with, “I just need a minute, I’m sure I’m fine I just want to make sure my head is still normal.” He picked up my bike and started making sure it wasn’t damaged. The other two guys I was with came up behind and one mentioned it was a good thing I crashed otherwise he probably would of. I guess I’m just good at taking one for the team. I took the rest of the trail pretty easy, just hiking up to the top and riding a little more slowly than was probably necessary. One of the guys asked me if my head was okay. I replied, “Well I know my name and what year it is so that’s a good sign.” I did dent my helmet, nothing bad but the integrity has been compromised and figured it’s not worth risking. Plus I did have another helmet for riding my Superfly so that’s been pulling double duty lately. My dad called early the next morning so I mentioned something to him but didn’t tell my mom right away because wanted to figure out if A.) I was completely fine (which I am) or B.) would need to go to the doctor before I took years off her life. Someone in the mumble jumble between my parents it got lost in translation and my mom ended up thinking I went to the ER after the crash which probably took more years off her life than if I had told her from the start. 

Stopping to smell the flowers…

I did a long ride on my Superfly the other day about 30 miles round trip and all on single track which was awesome. Unfortunately about 5 miles into it I stopped and ended up chatting with this guy for a good 25 minutes about Leadville and a world of other things and apparently was so engrossed in the conversation that I forgot to shut my garmin off, completely killing my average speed for the ride. Such is life. It was a nice training ride and hadn’t had any hiccups until I was about 50ft from the initial parking lot coming back in

Done.

when I almost ran over a snake that had slithered onto the trail. I screamed and then realized how silly that was because no one could hear me. I was giggling about it when I reached the parking lot and a guy there said, “looks like you had some fun up on the trail.” 

The next morning I did a road ride with one of the guys from the shop. Every time I tell him about a snake I see on the ride he asks me why I don’t bring it into the shop. When we were leaving we were talking about the snake incident that I had on the ride the night before, he informed me that he has rarely seen a snake on a road ride and not often on a mountain ride. We ended up running into three during the ride. Each time it went about the same way, he would inform me there was a snake up ahead and I would drop back behind him and to the outside and say, “oh my goodness, oh my goodness, oh my goodness, oh my goodness….” until we passed it. At the end he told me he thought I was the one attracting the snakes. Now people at the shop call me snake lady. 

I did a long ride on my road bike early last week. It ended up being about 50 miles over 4 hours with lots of climbing thrown in. I started out thinking I was going to go one route and then ended up missing a turn and ended up in a completely different direction than I had intended. The thought had occurred to me to turn around and get a little less mileage but to know where I was but for some reason I kept going. Lucky I did, I ended up in the town about 18 miles outside of Boulder after getting there in the most round about way and

realizing it was Monday. Most people don’t know but the Carousel of Happiness is open all day on Monday’s, other than that its hit or miss if it is actually open. The carousel is one of my favorite places, this man hand carved all these wondrous figurines that make up the carousel and then just put it in this town for people to enjoy. I realized that with most of my trajectory in life I may not have gone where I intended but I think I ended up where I needed to be. 

I did the Big Mick this past weekend but have been pretty bad about posting so wanted to get this one up. It won’t be as long between my postings again, mainly so my parents know I’m staying out of the ER. 

Final thoughts.

Huh, I’m a lot closer to this live buffalo than I was the dead snake. I realized that the way my body processes fear isn’t always conducive to remaining alive and fully intact. Luckily the buffalo I ran into on my ride seemed to be fairly humanized and realized as my grandmother would say, “I’m not worth the effort.”

He could definitely do a number on me

The snake I ran into though did warrant quite a fearful response. It might have been the biggest one I have ever seen while riding. Fortunately I was forewarned otherwise my shorts probably would have been wet and my bike might have been left on the trail as I ran away. The guy was riding up as I was going down, “There is a big ass snake in the middle of the trail, it’s dead, really dead. I smashed it with a rock so it’s definitely dead.” Clearly his adrenaline was still pumping as he informed me the death status quite a few times. “Oh man, thanks for telling me, I’m deathly afraid of snakes so I probably would have peed my pants.” I had just passed a point where you can hop on the road and ride back to the parking lot, which was less than a mile away. I decided to do that and not even mess with the snake so turned around and started hiking back up. Then a little voice inside my head starting talking, telling me that it was dumb to be afraid of something that is dead and not going to hurt you. I turned around to take a small step in facing my fears, it’s dead, so a good place to start. I slowly began edging my way towards it, contemplating if I should climb up off the trail around it or go below it. If I went above I would be looking down on it, but if I went below it I might miscalculate and pop up right by it. I could run right by it on the trail, but there was a rock close by that I might accidentally stop on and my shoe could fall off and directly onto the snake…   

My roommate asked why I was so far away..

I kept crawling towards it when I heard some voices coming up behind me on the trail. Two men appeared and I told them there was a huge dead snake on the trail. One of the guys was as much of a girl about it as I was. The other guy got off his bike, walked over and yelled, “yep, it’s definitely dead, its guts are all over the place, that rock really did a number.” Then as the two of us squealed the guy picked it up and threw it off the trail into the bushes. Who knew my knight in shining armor would wear lycra. 

That was my second ride on my Remedy, both which happened at Hall Ranch. The first time I went with a guy who is an extremely skilled rider and luckily for me also very patient. Even though I had ridden the trail on my Supefly, having the Remedy was a whole different ball game. He was nice enough to help me work different lines and would wait while I tried sections again. The ride was completely awesome. The bike is outrageously fun to ride, all the time. The second time I rode it I had spent 5 hours prior getting dental work done, and still had a fantastic time. I had cracked a tooth while eating a jolly rancher for lunch and postponed getting it fixed because a.) it didnt’ hurt and b.) I didn’t want to give up ride time. Then about a week later I was eating a rice cake and the whole chunk fell off which

My remedy brings all the boys to the yard

sent me into quite the tizzy-fit. I knew I should have taken care of it sooner, obviously, but when it broke off I was pretty distraught. I’m rather fastidious when it comes to my oral health, once when I was 8 I had to go home from a slumberparty because someone started talking about gingivitis. I was able to make an appointment extremely early in the morning though so I still had lots of time afterwards to ride. My mouth was pretty tired and sore but it was still hard not to smile. 

I’ve still been doing rides on my road bike and Superfly. I took my road bike home this past weekend when I was up for Mary Clair’s graduation. I always forget how much I love riding in the hills; the twisty roads, the one-lane bridges, the majestic scenery and the little traffic makes you really able to get away from it all. I ended up doing 50 miles without really planning it or consciously realizing how far I had gone until I had gotten home. 

In Boulder I’m still in awe of how many untapped trails and roads I’ve never been on even with living here for a year before. I rode Betasso the other day, a trail system almost in

This is what I’ve been missing?!?!

Boulder that I never once rode while I was living here. Wayne and I almost went once but then his seat fell off so we turned around. I had decided to finally ride it by myself and see what it was all about when I did the first section and a friend texted me to tell me he was on his way there and to see if I wanted to ride. It made me realize that you shouldn’t wait for others, go where you want to go and the people who want to be there will meet you there.  

“Oh Blimey!” 

“I don’t think we should tell anyone we work in bike shops.”
“Yah definitely not.” 

Ninety minutes earlier I had met the Shop Mechanic at his shop so we could carpool to Lookout Mountain and he could pick up a demo bike. In the parking lot as he was sifting through his bike box he asked me if I had things for a flat.
“…Uh…well…I have a tube, but things are a little disheveled from the move (more on that later) so no flat kit, you have stuff right?”
“I have a hand pump. But I don’t want to bring it because of the extra weight.”
“We’ll probably be okay, I have a floor pump and tube and it’s not like we’re going on a long ride away from civilization and we’ve never had a flat when we’ve ridden together.” Famous last words.
He drove, and it didn’t help that I knew where we were going and he didn’t. I forgot to tell him where to turn and only realized it after we had gone a few miles out of the way. We got to Lookout Mountain and started getting ready. Unfortunately his erratic driving and the

This is what his driving felt like

coffee I had that morning proved to be a lethal combination. Because my stomach isn’t exactly made of steel or really any robust material I threw up, twice. He asked if I still wanted to ride, “oh yah I should be fine just getting it out of my system”. I wasn’t flu sick just needed to get my land legs back. I started checking over my bike and inflated the front tire and started to do the rear except when I unscrewed the valved half of it popped off and all the air escaped. Whomp, whomp. Well good thing I had an extra tube and pump in the car. I took the wheel off but without any tire levers I couldn’t get the tire off, especailly because the tires I have are notorious for being a pain even with levers. I gave it to the mechanic to have his way with it. He was able to change it out no problem and it seemed to work well until we started putting air in and getting air out through the a hole that was in the new tube. “Well this is great, now we get to pay full price for a tube, maybe the shop will let us use their tire levers but let’s not tell them we work at a shop.” The shop we went to was pretty chill and I was able to get a tube and change it out there and grab some chews to have something in my stomach so it worked out well. 

Two hours after meeting we were finally on our bikes. Luckily the rest of the ride went smoothly, other than the fact that he beat me up the hill and then relished in the fact as I was throwing up at the top again. He told me its a good thing I was riding with him with how much throwing up I was doing because someone else might think I’m actually out of shape.    

I’ve actually made the move back to Boulder, I took a position at a shop here. It’s weird to think that last year at this time I wasn’t even considering moving to Denver and now I’m already back. It’s been nice, to be on my bike and riding from my front door instead of having to drive somewhere. People at work do lunchtime rides which is super awesome.

Lunchtime ride, anyone?

It’s definitely a transition though, I really liked my house in Denver and my roommate, we lived really well together, and we still have 2 more season of Family Guy to watch so there’s that. I did contemplate commuting but that’s 2 hours in the car everyday, which just didn’t make sense. I’m excited to finally not have a commute though and super pumped about getting  another bike to commute on! And I didn’t find my roommate on craigslist so my chances of getting murdered decrease significantly, right?  

I’ve pretty much just been on my road bike for March. One thing that was nice when I went

Only in South Dakota…

to South Dakota is that because I wasn’t planning on going I had my road bike with me to do a ride later that day. I actually got 3 rides in when I was up there and it was the first time I was outside on a road bike since before the crash. I didn’t have my helmet with me but found one of my brothers which I road with and then asked him if he had taken any crashes with it, “Probably it’s around 8 year old.” Great. The rides up there definitely rival some of the road rides here, plus it’s so much less populated that I only saw  a few cars when I was out riding.  Boulder does have quiet a few more people to ride with and the scenery definitely doesn’t hurt either.

Best kept secret

I did see my brain therapist too. Which the first test she had me do was basically a sobriety test which I informed her I failed in high school when the state trooper came into our classroom and I was the control, completely sober and Paul David wore the beer goggles and did better than me so not a really accurate thing to go off of. I had to say the alphabet and count at the same time, try it, it’s as easy as it sounds and other various activities which I can’t exactly remember. My biggest thing still is connecting my thoughts with words, which sometimes gets lost in translation. Certainly improving but lots of occasional word vomit, my new roommate can give you lots of examples I’m sure. She said I was lucky to have that as my main symptom as most people get really bad headaches and migraines, which I’ve never gotten so I am pretty lucky. She said the biggest thing is time and that it will take more time so gave me some exercises and to check back with her in 3 months because none of my symptoms are actually hindering my lifestyle and doesn’t feel it’s necessary to check in before then. That’s good news, the first month with out doctor appointments…so much time for activities!!! 

This weekend I’m heading to Moab, we’re celebrating Barb’s birthday by doing lots of riding. It should be lots of fun and a nice break after all the chaos that surrounded March. 

The last voicemail I received from my grandmother was when she read my blog about running into the mountain lion. I tend to call her so when she calls I usually let it go to voicemail just because they are pretty funny. In this voicemail she told me how scared she would have been and was glad that I was so brave and then added, it’s a good thing you don’t have a lot of meat on your bones because when he looked at you he probably realized how much work it would be for such a little reward and didn’t think it was worth his time. She had no problem delivering these lines when I was on the phone either. Two weeks ago I was going to meet a friend to ride on trainers. I called her on her on the way to chat and she asked what I was doing that day, I told her I was going to ride my bike but inside because it was pretty windy and I didn’t want to have to fight with it. Oh that’s good, you don’t need any help falling off your bike. 

One of the many things she taught me.

I was lying in bed last Wednesday morning contemplating going for a run when my mom called. I swear hospitals have a very distinctive background noise. My grandmother had suffered a massive stroke earlier that morning and was taken to the hospital by ambulance, they were still in the ER waiting to talk to the neurologist but they did know the next 24-48 hours would be critical. She said she’d call again after talking to the doctor. I had a lot of time before going to work and was planning to stay in Boulder that night so packed everything up that I would need for the rest of the day and the next. My mom called again and after getting off the phone I still wasn’t sure if I should go home. I called my dad on the way to work and discussed  if I should go home today or wait until my next day off, Sunday. He conferenced my mom in and it only took him a minute before he said “just come home today” which is all it took. He asked me if I wanted to fly home but at that point logistically it seemed too complicated, I just wanted to get on the road. I stopped by work and told them I was taking a sick day and they told me to go and take care of family. I took off, and what should have taken me close to 7 hours took me closer to 5. 

I think it helps that a few years ago my grandmother stuck a ‘Children are a Gift from God’ sticker on the back of my car so at least people think I’m a good person when I speed past them. Always looking out for me!

I made it to the hospital while she was still responsive, I held her hand and cried and told her she had really bad timing and that I thought we had talked about Save the Dates after my grandfathers funeral. All my aunts and uncles were there, a few cousins and family friends. We decided around 6 that we’d all stay at the hospital that night, as most of us live about an hour away.  Luckily one friend was a physician and was able to realize that she was having longer intervals between each breath.  Watching her die was the hardest thing I have ever witnessed and also one of the most profound. It immediately makes you realize how vulnerable you are.

Need to protect that frontal lobe!

My grandmother was the last of her generation so a lot of family came to town for it. My cousin kept saying how weird it was that we’re our parents generation now. It is. With so many Irish Catholics it made me feel like I was back in college with all the Mary, Margaret, and Katherine’s. We spent lots of hours pouring over pictures trying to find the right ones that really captured my grandmother’s spirit. On the way to gathering those we found some pretty awesome gems. Frank might be the most smiley man/kid to ever take pictuers. Unfortunately being photogenic did not seem to carry down to Wayne or I. I also found out that as a chid I really liked to wear helmets even when the situation didn’t warrant one. 

Just incase I fall off his lap!

Got my t-shirt and picture with the yeti…do I still need to run? I texted this to Molly before the 5K I did the other weekend. She didn’t respond and I had already told my Godfather about it which his response was “make the family proud.” I decided since I had dragged myself out of bed after 4 hours of sleep (insomnia=sooo much time for activities). I might as well run. They gave the Yeti a head start and then started the pack.  My game plan was to work on chasing down the Yeti, which was a good plan until we were half a mile in and the Yeti pulled off to the side and started cheering for people. I was mildly disappointed because that wasn’t exactly the chase I had envisioned as it didn’t result in hunting him down and tackling him (I’m trying to be more aggressive). The first mile went by pretty fast, 7:14  to be exact which my thought when I passed the 1 mile mark was, Holy Cow, I am SO fast! It’s not my fastest mile but I wasn’t really expecting that. I didn’t continue that pace, I was so worried I would bonk if I did that I settled into a more relaxed pace. Mile 2, I went back and forth with an 8 year old. I pulled ahead going into mile 3 and then coming into the home stretch she sprinted ahead and beat me.  I figured it was karma because I can remember running the Main Street Mile in moccasins when I was 5/6 and I’m sure that pissed off the older people I beat. When I got done I wasn’t really sure what to do. I thought about throwing up just because that seems to be something runners do and the coffee I had before wasn’t really sitting well but I didn’t really run that fast and didn’t want people to perceive me as being a real runner. I grabbed some oranges and water and walked around loading up on free stuff. At this point they were starting the awards and figured since my age group would be close to the beginning I should stick around and see who beat me and see what a good time is. They called out third and second place and then they called my name. Wait, what? They know I’m not a real runner, right? 

Is this real life?!?

What the cool kids do

Because I promised my parents I would try not to ride alone anymore I took Molly and Abe to Marshall Mesa last weekend. They definitely did not crash as much as I did the first couple of times I went out. They were good sports as I drug them through some pretty muddy sections and got their bikes all dirty. They kept apologizing for being slow and I just kept telling them I was paying it forward for all the times Barb waited and was patient with me. I think we might be planning a trip to Moab soon! 

The next day one of the girls that I’m doing the Breck 100 with was doing Picture Rock. It’s a trail that connects Heil to Hall Ranch. I’ve done Heil and I’ve done Hall but never that section. As we started riding there was a sign that said “Mountain Lion Habitat” well that’s great. The girl told me that she had bear spray so if I got attacked she’d have my back. The trail was about 10 miles total. It was pretty smooth at the beginning but towards the top got a little choppy with little rocks here and there. The way down I definitely felt quiet a few of those bumps, which made me think even more about a full suspension. Then I saw 2 guys on hardtail single-speeds and realized how much more of badass I would be if I was on one of those. 

Leadville releases its lottery selection on Friday.  I never did hear back from the lady I emailed to remind  about the medical deferral. Part of me is waiting to see if their reaction will be more like- “Ha! Just kidding, we got you good though, huh?” I don’t think my mom would be too upset about that decision. If that did happen I would probably buy the Slash (6 inches of travel!!) on Saturday and sign up for some enduro races. I am on the waiting list for the Big Mountain Enduro Series race in Moab. It’s in September and I wasn’t going to but the other day got a text from a friend that said, “I was persuaded and registered for the BME at Moab. Now you need to get yourself a full suspension so you can come play on the big mountains.” It’s very tempting. 

Definitely not as suave

This view never gets old

If attacked, fight back works for a lot of things in life

If I had a dollar for every time someone has told me that I’m one lucky SOB I’d at least have 4 and that’s just from one day. I decided to go for a ride last Thursday because it was suppose to be the last warm day for a while (rumor was a month but I think it’s only a few days) and really wanted to ride. I haven’t ridden since I did Hall a few weeks ago and started to get cabin fever so decided I would ride in the morning before work. I decided to do Chimney Gulch, the one I had done with Wayne at the beginning of December but skip the section with the waterbars (because I was going to be riding alone didn’t want to crash over one and get knocked out). There is a place you can park that skips that section so I did that. I texted my roommate to tell him where I was riding and told him I should be off the trail by 11 (I always add in an hour extra than what I plan on riding just for shenanigans). I wasn’t planning on being out that long so stuffed everything into my jersey pockets. Which means I left my knife in the car (If I learned one thing from 127 Hours it’s to always have a sharp knife on you) but figured I’d be okay because it runs parallel with a paved road that has bikers on it all the time. I started the ride and the trail was in good condition some snowy patches in shaded coverage but that was about it. You climb for a little bit at the beginning and then the trail flattens out before it dips down into tree coverage and then you climb out and then you’re pretty much at the top. I was turning the bend where it starts to flatten out when I saw something out of the corner of my eye bounding up the hill out of the grass about 20 feet in front of me. “Huh, that’s a really big coyote….oh shit, that’s a mountain lion.” I stopped and it stopped on the trail and had its back turned to me. I froze for a second almost out of curiosity, I’ve never seen one and was captivated by it and then I remembered it kills people. I didn’t want to turn around when it had its back to me because like my high school track coach said you should always see what’s going to kill you (he used this when it came to running against traffic). I grabbed my phone (because I still had 2 hours until anyone was expecting to hear from me) and my tool was in the same pocket. Not that my tool would really do anything to it. And then it turned and looked at me. Not going to lie I might of peed a little. It seemed like a few minutes but I’m sure it was mere seconds that we held the death stare when I threw my tool down on a nearby rock to hopefully startle him. It did and he turned and scampered down the hill. I picked my tool up and stuffed it back into my jersey with my phone and then kept riding. This is how I know my frontal lobe is still damaged. Those critical thinking skills just aren’t there yet. It was about 1/2 mile before I heard my Godfather’s voice go “How’s this report going to look?” 

I should probably just stick to writing….

Which he always asks if I’m debating doing something stupid. I started to get into the tree coverage area when I realized just how stupid I was being. I was lucky that I saw him the first time but I probably wouldn’t see him the second time. I turned around and booked it back to my car. I texted my roommate a mere 30 minutes after my initial text “….yah, I’m off the trail there was a mountain lion so I’m going to go run in the park where people are.” I didn’t call home for a few days after that because I knew I didn’t want to tell my parents and freak them out so sorry mom and dad you had to find out this way. I did tell my Godfather just because of his voice popping into my head I figured he would be pleased to hear that. He asked me if I got a picture. I told him that I wasn’t exactly thinking about my blog at that point. He said too bad I should just draw one.  The picture isn’t that accurate, I cut my hair so my braids aren’t that long and I was wearing knickers not short shorts. But the mountain lion was definitely bigger than me. Just kidding. 

You’d be scared to not do your exercises with this guy

When I was driving home one of the thoughts I had was, well at least I’ll have something to tell my physical therapist. Last time he asked me to tell him stories of my adventures the most exciting thing I had was I finished my book. The therapist is really cool though, if The Dude from The Big Levowski was a hand therapist this would be him, he even looks like Jeff Bridges. The first time I was in he was evaluating my strength and flexibility on both hands and after my right hand grip test he asked me what else I do besides biking. I tried to think of all the activities I do related to hand use and rattled off a few, “running, reading, knitting, writing, and swimming, not so much with the swimming and knitting these days because those bother my hand a little much.” 
“Hmm well your grip strength is off the charts.” I thought he was being sarcastic so I laughed and told him some of the guys at the shop call me farm strong. He wasn’t kidding though. For a girl my age the normal range is 37-59 pounds. I’m at 87 for my right hand my left hand (which was broken for 5 months) is in the normal range at 39. He’s also pretty funny which is good because I’m stuck with him for 45 minutes two times a week. He was asking me what I want to do with my life and I responded with my generic “oh you know maybe this maybe that.” He suggested I go to school to be a hand therapist so I can give hand jobs the rest of my life. I told him I might just so I can make jokes like that! The exercises are definitely helping though, I get to play with silly putty two times a day as part of it it. I still notice some limitations with flexibility and strength but I’m sure it’ll get there. I did play volleyball one night and bruised my left hand on the outside. I was trying to get a ball out the net and when I fell and I must have stuck out my hand but didn’t want to catch myself with it so smacked it right where the ulna and triquertrum meet. It left a bruise which my therapist wasn’t too happy about. I told him it’s kind of funny though because I’ve been played volleyball pretty consistently for a good 7 years and never injured my hands in any capacity, not even jammed figures from blocking. He didn’t think it was that funny and just said he was putting it in my file to cover his ass. 

I’m pretty good at that!

I’ve noticed more improvements with my head, at least when it comes to long term memory. One of my friends was talking about her favorite movie, The Sound of Music and how the younger ones have a ski resort in Vermont and I said, “Greta?” which I have no idea how I remembered that but was really excited when I did. I also go my hair cut recently and had seen her before Halloween when she was telling me about her costume and I remembered that she was going as a Toddlers in Tiaras with her friends. There are still definitely lapses. The new running shoes I ordered I wasn’t super stoked on, well I was because they’re awesome trail running shoes but I thought I ordered them in blue but was super excited and surprised when I received purple and green. I doubled checked to make sure they didn’t mess up my order and I ordered them in purple and green. I also went to Zero Dark Thirty the other night (which is a great movie) and was really amazed at how fast the production happened given we had just killed Bin Laden in May, and then I realized I was missing another year. Whomp whomp. 

“This photo validates how cool I am” said everyone on instagram.

Running has been going well, I’m thinking about signing up for a 5K just to see where I’m at. Because my therapy appointments are in Boulder I usually run after those but before going to work (thank goodness we have a shower at work!). The only problem is that it tends to be a little windier there than in Denver, which is great when it’s a tail wind it just sucks when you turn around and it’s like running into a brick wall. It reminds me of the sled pulls we used to have to do in college for volleyball the only big difference is that I don’t throw up after.