Tri for Your Cause (Boulder)

September 15

I did a long sprint in Boulder. The swim was a quick 1/2 mile, with water temp about 20 degrees warmer than the air. The 25 mile bike course is a fast loop around Boulder and Longmont. I was settling in at about mile 5 when I went off the shoulder and found myself one with road. My right thumb hurt and was bleeding nicely. I had some abrasions on my left leg and hand. I had also hit my head, but that did not hurt. The dedicated athletes in Colorado completely ignored me as they zoomed by.

So, I faced the Athlete's Dilemma .. to DNF (Did Not Finish) or risk bleeding to death trying (through the thumb). I only had 20 miles of the bike course left, so I headed out, determined to complete the race.

I finished the bike, no worse for the effort, and decided to try the run which I completed in about 30 minutes, a good time for me.

Feeling ok, I decided to have the EMTs who were standing by check me out. They cleaned up my wounds and suggested that I have my thumb checked out by a Doctor. As I started to leave, one of them said "hey, what about that cut above your eye?" I didn't realize it was even there, but they said I should have that checked out too.

So, off to the local emergency room.

The net of it all, is that I got seven stitches above my eye, and sprained my thumb. It remains to be seen how serious the thumb problem is. More importantly, I finished 3rd in my age group.