On The Bright Side: No Flat Tires!

Tired doesn’t begin to describe how I felt last night. Or today, for that matter. My fuel gauge is pretty solidly sunk on E, although I have faith that the cheesecake I ordered with lunch and a handful of Emergen-C packets will get me through the day.

What a great weekend! I’m bruised, bloodied, and sore, but I survived the MS Century Ride yesterday mostly in one piece, thanks to Cycling Friend A’s help and encouragement. Around mile 75, after being on the bike for nearly 6 hours, I wanted to curl up on the side of 9W and take a little nap, but she kept me going to the whole way. It was definitely one of the toughest physical activities I’ve ever encountered – and I can’t wait to try another one!

Of course I couldn’t get through that many miles without falling – with my track record, the odds are clearly against me. I caught A’s back wheel on a tough climb around mile 55 and took a tumble. Thankfully I was going at such a low speed that I didn’t get too hurt, but I shredded one of my gloves, the road rash on my stomach and elbow hurts like hell in the shower, and the bruise on my left hip/leg some kind of awesome. If it weren’t on such a scandalously high place on my leg, I’d be showing it off around the office right now.

As if that wasn’t quite enough, I clinched the title of Queen of the Klutzes yesterday when making my grand entrance to City Sports, the kids track program I coach on Sundays. A and I were running late and pedaling as hard as our tired little legs could take us across the George Washington Bridge to get there on time. We arrived with minutes to spare, quickly threw on our coaches tshirts over our sweaty bike gear and hurried over to the group. So there I was, smelly and starving but so happy to have finished the ride and made it to coaching on time. I was excitedly running towards the big group of stretching kids while all of their parents looked on from the stands above when suddenly THUD! There I was, sprawled out on the ground, now thoroughly hurting everywhere and kind of in shock. In my haste I had tripped over the metal ledge that separates the track from the infield and went flying into the air, cartoon-style. Parents were applauding. Kids were laughing. Coaches were laughing. I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, so I sort of did both as Coach JC helped me up. It was really the crowning achievement in my Klutz Career. So technically we could add “bruise and scrape on left leg” to my list of MS Ride-related injuries, though I only have my own clumsiness to blame. I'm a mess.

It was very quiet around Nice Hedge Fund today. Easy has Jury Duty, Easier is in Croatia to run a marathon (I know, he’s my hero), Easiest is practically non-existent, and JDate is self-sufficient. It was also a good eating day. Besides my delicious sandwich and cheesecake lunch, I also ate half a dozen cookies that were left over from someone’s meeting. Mmm cookies. Restricted list, my ass, I earned them yesterday. Maybe after I get another century ride under my belt I can reintroduce bagels to my diet. Maybe.