There are only two times in my life that I wanted to be just like Lance Armstrong: when he started dating Sheryl Crow and now.  As you know, Lance broke his clavicle recently and had to have it surgically repaired.  Now you may think that this would be a silly time to envy a guy, but bear with me, I do have a point here.

I was training on my bike here in the Netherlands (the world’s most bike-friendly country) and was hit by a car.  It was an amazing sight as I found the wind beneath my wings as I flew off the bike, landing hard on the street.  After landing hard, I cleared my dazed and confused head (like Chester Cheetah) just long enough to watch as the driver sped away.  He was obviously not impressed by my acrobatics.

So now I sit here, having just come back from my complimentary surgical consult wishing I had the all king’s horses and all the king’s men to put this Humpty Dumpty back together again; hence the rationale behind envying Mr. Armstrong.  You just know that he has the best team of nutritionists, trainers, physiotherapists and the like to bring him back up to race form.  Me?  I have my own gumption and the unwavering support of my race team to put me back together.

Yes folks…..I am still racing.  I looked at the Primal Quest race clock and it seems I have just short of 120 days to be bigger, stronger, and faster.  As if deciding to be a 40 year young adventure athlete wasn’t bad enough, I had to make it that much more challenging by busting myself up.  It is as if I needed just that much more motivation in the face of my imminent under-dog status to drive me forward.  Sometimes I wonder why it is that I need to do everything the hard way.

I don’t mean to dwell on the obvious, but I know that many of the other racers out there have had this happen and have made it through.  Hell, didn’t someone have a hip resurfaced or something?  I know that my current prescription is three weeks of rest, rest, rest….but I don’t do that very well.  I am just thankful that the words, “you don’t understand, Doc…I gotta race!” translates in Dutch.  After that, it is back to work.

So there it is.  I must say though, there are definitely some positives here;

• No more diet of cabbage and beets in Russia
• Warmer training location and facilities
• Guided rehab with a good sports physiotherapist
• Sleeping in my own bed

If I have to be broken, I would much rather be broken at home.

Todd Phillips
quest4pq@gmail.com

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 16th, 2009 at 9:53 am and is filed under Primal Quest. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.