The thing about running is, you need feet...

I'll get to my latest training runs in a second, just after this short statement:

On Friday, for my cross-training exercise, SoxFan and I went mountain biking at Green Mountain. We had a great time, but rather than riding the trail back (like a champ) I decided to ride back to the truck on the sidewalk (like a loser). However, there was a small stretch of road where there was no sidewalk, so I had to ride it out in the road.

:::I am aware that this is the correct way to ride a bike, and that riding on the sidewalk is illegal and is most often the cause of cars hitting cyclists.:::

Apparently the jerk who pulled up behind me and insisted on laying on the horn and screaming at me for riding my bike in the road was unaware of this small detail, despite my efforts to educate him with various hand gestures and colorful language. I was in the left lane for a reason, you jackass, because I needed to turn left, just like a car would do! And, generally speaking, laying on the horn while yelling at me out of your window and trying to squeeze between me (rather pushing me onto the yellow line and very nearly into oncoming traffic) and the car in the right lane is not considered the correct way to treat a cyclist on the road and I hope you (and your god forsaken Honda Ridgeline*) get pulled over and ticketed next time for your ridiculous behavior. Jackass.

Whew... Now that that is out of my system...

The remainder of last week's training runs went fairly well. After the abysmal 2 miler that SoxFan and Ini ran with me, I had one more 3.5 miler on Thursday morning, then a 5 miler on Saturday by myself on the Highline Canal. I managed to run the entire 5m, but I was having pain in the left side of my lower back so I stopped several times to bend over and stretch a bit. It was a great day for a run, though, otherwise.

Regarding this back pain... I'm worried it might be connected to the pain I've also been having in my left hip joint, which I'm also worried might be connected to the pain I've been having in my left IT band. (The hip bone is connected to the leg bone and all that.) So, rather than see my McDoctor about it (thank you for the superb care, Kaiser Permanente), who would probably just dismiss me with something ingenius like "oh, if it hurts when you run, then you shouldn't run" I've decided to try a chiropractor.

I know, I know. I've always heard they're quacks, too. I'm very skeptical, but there are a couple of people at work who say they go regularly and it works. If they start saying things like "If you let me crack this bone here, it'll cure your allergy to cottonwood trees"...I'm totally out. That's just wacko crazy person stuff.

If you have any experience with chiropractors (good or bad), please let me know. I'm supposed to go in next Monday, and I'm not sure what to expect.

On Sunday (my rest day), SoxFan and I decided to head out to Eleven Mile Canyon to do a little fly-fishing. He and his dad had really great luck there this time last year, so I hoped this would be an out-of-the-ordinary fly-fishing trip for me and I'd actually catch a fish rather than just getting a lot of casting practice. Ah... a nice, graceful, relaxing day of fly-fishing... what could be better?

I was also very excited to try out my luck at wading. In the past I've always fished from the bank while SoxFan wades the river...which was kindof convenient for me because then I could blame my lack of catching fish on the fact that I had to remain stuck on the side of the river. I didn't have proper felt-soled wading boots, but I did have an awesome new pair of Keen sandals that we figured would work in a pinch.

He caught 2. I caught none, and I was well into my second half-hour of pouting over this fact when I stepped on a tippy rock and fell into the river, thereby slicing a great wound into the front of my right leg and "spraining" my right foot. I didn't realize anything was wrong with my foot until this morning, around 3AM, when I got up to get water and realized I could not put weight on my right foot nor could I wiggle my right toes.

I woke up the hubs, who recommended that I stop crying and instead take an ibuprofen and see my McDoctor in the morning. So, that's exactly what I did. The pain was not as bad when I re-woke at 7AM, but I hobbled my way into the McDoctor's office anyway and they shot a couple of pictures of the foot, declared that I'd broken nothing, thereby deduced that it must be a "sprain" (though, for the life of me I don't understand how you "sprain" a foot), put me in a huge ridiculous Frankenstein boot and sent me packing.

I'm trying to see this as the best possible outcome. At 3AM, I was convinced that I'd definitely broken a bone in my foot, and any chance of running Denver was out of reach. As it is, I'm just out of commission for a few days at most (OK, so the McDoctor said 7-10 days of no running, but I just told her to shut her McMouth 'cause I had a plan) and I'm back to 100% by Saturday's 5miler. I am trying to completely ignore the fact that, should I have to actually skip an entire week of training, there's a good chance that I won't make it to Denver anyway.

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*My apologies to you if you happen to own a Honda Ridgeline. I think they are horrendous looking, but I'm sure yours is just lovely.