My knee is still inflamed and sore but getting better after crashing on a mountain bike Tuesday night. It was my first time on a mountain bike since 2014, and my first time riding trails in New Hampshire after biking in Arizona and Colorado. In retrospect, I probably should not have biked so close to race day but I chose adventure instead of caution.
I’m a pretty cautions person when it comes to choosing to turn back so I can live another day in the mountains. But I really didn’t think mountain biking would be dangerous. I love mountain biking and just laughing as I speed down hills and sweat going up the hills in the woods. It’s so much like skiing in that you are in the moment and not thinking about anything else. Whereas with running you are thinking of everything. When you get that chance to ride in a place you’ve never been with a fun, hot mountain bike racer, you take it. Ha! Crashing on roots and rocks, while not ideal, is part of the adventure. I forgot that.
But alas, I’ve been here before. Not really thinking of the outcomes but taking the adventure because I wanted to do something new or different. It’s why I took a job in Concord and moved here in 2017. It’s why I took risks in relationships and signing up for a race I wasn’t sure I could do.
It’s about the adventure.
I’m trying not to despair as I sit on my sofa on a rainy Friday morning contemplating the next few days. While I can’t run and can barely walk, it’s going to be okay. My race is 8 days away and I can’t even taper. The worse case scenario: I don’t make it to the start line. The best case scenario: my knee heals and I make it 50 miles on May 26. So for the next few days I will swim, stretch, foam roll, walk and do the elliptical at the Y.
May 26 is just a race. It’s not the end of the world. [read out loud and repeat]
If life throws you a curve, just adjust.