It's not that often that I get to do two races in one weekend. Sure, I had to drive nine hours to get to Show Low, Ariz. for the Deuces Wild Triathlon Festival, but I knew it would be worth the trip (and the $4.39/gallon gas). Show Low really isn't much of a town, but then again, I wasn't expecting it to be. It's hard to expect much from a town where the main street is called Deuce of Clubs Boulevard. I coerced my girlfriend into coming along, on the basis that I would go see the "Sex and the City" movie on opening night. Talk about a great way to get amped up for a race.
Race number one was an Olympic-distance affair on Saturday morning. When I woke up on race morning, my adrenaline was still pumping from wondering if Carrie was going to end up with Big...she did. The race went true to form -- great swim, great bike, disaster of a run. I swear my running is getting better but going from zero feet above sea level to 7,000 takes its toll. I managed to go from fifth overall off the bike to 19th at the finish, but I did narrowly hang onto the win in my age group.
Just in case Saturday's 10k wasn't enough of a disaster, there was XTERRA Deuces Wild on Sunday morning. This season I've decided to make XTERRA my focus, but that change of attitude doesn't mean that I can handle a bike any better on tricky surfaces. I love XTERRA because it's hard and dangerous, not because I'm any good at it. Less than two miles into the gnarly Deuces Wild course, I took a spill while heading through a concrete tunnel. I stuck out my left arm to brace my fall against the tunnel wall, which unfortunately for my labrum, shot my shoulder joint out of socket. After about three minutes of screaming like a little girl who just found out that Santa isn't real, I was able to get it back in socket and I was rolling again -- albeit very slowly. I took the rest of the 26-km bike course extremely easy, terrified of causing some more damage to my already-ruined shoulder. I made it to the finish -- with a time and place that I won't place here -- and woke up yesterday morning to realize that there's no way in hell I'm racing Escape from Alcatraz this coming weekend. Maybe it's time to let the body heal a little.
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