I bit the dust on the Mock Tri

2 weeks ago, we had a Mock Tri with the See Jane Tri training group. It was a 7am start (UGH!!!), but Kellie and I got our butts out of bed & drove from Berkeley to Aquatic Park to participate. The swim went well, and the bike went well ... until the last few hundred yards. I turned the corner from Van Ness onto the paved sidewalk heading back to transition when my bike wheel caught in one of the train tracks, and before I knew it, I was on the ground! I knew I was going down as soon as my tire hit the tracks, and I tried like crazy to get my feet out of the clips, but I panicked too much and landed straight on my right hip with my feet still clipped. As soon as my body hit the ground, my feet did unclip, but it was pretty scary for a moment there. More than anything, it knocked the wind out of me. One of my fellow triathletes (I don't know her name, but she had the pink ribbons tied to her bike helmet) thankfully stopped to make sure I was ok. I told her I was and sort of waved her on to finish up her tri. Once I got my wind back, I got back on my bike and coasted to the transition area.

When Kellie saw me, she said, "why is there grass all over you?" and she started brushing the grass off of me while I told her what happened. What was spooky is that she started pulling grass chunks out of my helmet! I didn't even know I had hit my head when I fell! But once I gained my composure back (I was pretty shaken up by how quickly it happened), I got into my running shoes and finished the run portion of the Mock Tri.

All was well in the next couple of hours, but it was sort of like what you hear from people in car accidents - the pain didn't come until later! Saturday evening, my back started to ache. And by Sunday morning, I could hardly move!! I had no idea I had hit the ground so hard! My neck wouldn't move, my back was out of whack, and all I was doing was taking handful after handful of ibuprofen to lessen the swelling. I was also putting ice packs on my back & neck every few hours.

It took 4 more days to feel normal again. The only thing lingering today is the pain in my right hip. I still can't sleep on that side or I'll feel pain in the morning. Given it's been 2 weeks, I probably should go see a doctor! :)

Stay safe - and wear your helmet NO MATTER WHAT!!