Hi again everyone. If you missed it, there's a recent (!!) welcome post below, written only minutes before this article. One reason I dusted off this old blog was to welcome all the new visitors the site is getting; another reason was to keep you up-to-date on my training, goals, and all that other, far more interesting stuff.

In case you missed it, I'm a triathlon fanboy. It's not because of any natural talent; I'm not fast, nor have I ever won even my division in a race. The reason is pretty simple: no other sport is as practical as the triathlon. Especially if you train the way I love to. Let me explain.

Think about those rare life-threatening situations. No, not with guns. If you've got one of those pointed at you, it's roulette and nothing more. I'm talking about the 4th grade type life-threatening situations, where there's a crowd of bullies and you're the nerd. You have two options: curl up in a ball and protect your vitals as best as possible or run fast and long. My recommendation? From 4th grade experience, I can tell you that it's better to run than to curl up. Believe it or not, kicks in non-vital areas can be both painful and life threatening.

Wait, so how does this 4th grade scenario play into triathlons OR adult life? I won't make the claim that 4th grade bullies are nearly as frightening and effective against me these days, but I can tell you that the ability to run long and hard has saved my hide many, many times. Running is a key part of the triathlon, of course (Swim, Bike, Run for the uninitiated), so you walk away far better prepared.

I know you're thinking, "So run a marathon. Why bother with the swimming and biking?" Fair point. Again, speaking from experience (not 4th grade in this case, though), swimming is a skill that can save both your life and another's. Strangely, if you hang out around the water, both opportunities will present themselves.

"Ah, but this biking thing", you say, "you certainly can't claim that this is a life-saving skill!" To you doubters, I ask: HAVE YOU EVER SEEN A JACKIE CHAN MOVIE?!!? Both the ability to ride and swing a bike you've "borrowed" from some hapless bystander can save your life.

I rest my case.

Triathlons are irrefutably the most practical individual sport on the planet. If all non-bully kids were triathletes, our nerd population would be far less emotionally scared and fit. Probably more socially adept too.

I apologize; I wax philosophic. My more legitimate personal reason for being a triathlete is because it's hard. In fact, at the distances I compete (well, ok, I'm not competitive *per se*), it's quite impossible without serious and consistent training. I think I mentioned in an earlier post that I'm pretty ADHD; if you know anything about the associated symptoms, you'll realize that "consistent" isn't a word used to describe my crowd. This is an effort to prove to myself that I can be consistent and in so doing find the tools that I can use to bring consistency to the rest of my life.

Surprisingly, to me at least, this has largely succeeded. I'm not as consistent as I should be in all things, but I've found means, previously unknown to me, to help me become more consistent. Surprising and nice, all in one package.

Before closing, I'll explain the "Broken Bones" bit in the title. I'm signed up for the St. George Ironman this year, but that's starting to look a bit doubtful. I have a fracture in my right foot that is going to make training (at least the running) very difficult. I'll give it a run (hehe), but I may have to drop out or at least drop the distance.

Enjoy the water, the ride, or the run (or all three)!

We'll start with a bit of catch-up, rapid-fire-style:

• Running sucked. Knees hurt.
• Broke back. Back hurt
• Started physical therapy. Knees and back still hurt.
• Ran. Hurt more.
• Doc said stop running. Stopped.
• Knees stopped hurting, back got excruciatingly painful.
• Started running again. Back got better, knees got worse.

In case you are wondering, I've been sticking to the letter of the Doctor's orders, running when he tells me to, resting, icing, heating, electrocuting, stretching, the works. I've been a good boy for a change! Let's continue.

• Therapist says, "Get a cortisone shot".
• Finally get around to going to the Doc, got cortisone shot.
• Run some more. Knees are better.
• Back still hurts, but not as bad.
• Yay.

That brings us up to speed in preparation for today's [mis]adventure.

Fun in the Sun

I wish. We've had snow coming down almost daily since the beginning of the week (it is Friday today, in case you were wondering). I can't really afford to take any time off the training schedule, as it's the only thing holding the pain in my back to a sane level (on a scale from 0-10, 0=no pain, 10=passing out, I sit at a 3 consistently when working out. Shoots up to 8 or higher when I'm not. Yes, I've nearly blacked out from it before, but don't tell my wife :) ). I ran on Monday, just after the first snow of the week. We had about 2 inches at the house, about 4 on the mountain a few hundred feet up from us.

Set the Scene

I am not a typical road rat when I'm running. We live on the foothills of some beautify (albeit desertish) mountains, slashed by ATV, game, and foot trails. When I run, I run trails. The experience is so much the better for the scenery and the mountains offers an unparalleled challenge.

I have several "favorite" routes- ranging from 2 to 13 miles. I've been running a 4 mile route for the past month as I've struggled to let the knees and back heal. This route takes me about a mile into the mountains then cuts North for another mile until it butts up against the fence line of Camp Williams (an Army facility). The terrain is pretty rough- field and wild hills with a swath of a path cut by farmers and base personnel. Apparently, it gets a fair bit of snow too.

Monday's run was great- the weather was clear, the snow on the ground was crispy and offered fair traction, and it wasn't too cold. Things started to change on Wednesday, though I was still able to get a good run in without too much of a weather impact.

Then there was today.

At Least I Had My iPhone

I left the house and headed for the mountains with broken clouds and a weather report calling for a "chance" of snow". We had some snow flakes floating on the breeze as I stepped out the door, but not nearly enough to detract me after my 20 minutes of stretching. It was cold (25, wind chill bringing it down to sub-twenties), but I had three layers. I was prepared!

When I hit the mountain (350 yards from the house), I noticed that the snow was getting deep. Looked to be about 6" on the ground, drifts upwards of a full foot. I tried to keep to where I knew the path would be, which actually proved to be less of a challenge than it may sound. I had tire tracks to follow for the first quarter-mile. After that, I was cutting my own path.

If you've ever trained by running in sand, you have an idea what it's like to run in the now. Take that and multiply that by 3 and you've scored the difficulty of running snow without the appropriate snowshoes. Add a 4% grade and difficult terrain... you should have the picture.

The weather held until I reached the base fence line. It's the two mile mark and my turnaround location and I had kept a decent time, regardless of the conditions. As I turned the corner and started heading for home, a large gray mass began gathering over the fence behind me, moving my direction. I started making good time as the wind picked up and pushed me down the hill toward home. Then the clouds began closing and the features of the distant landscape slowly began disappearing. Ever more quickly, closer artifacts began fading into a white mist until all that was left ere the footprints in front of me. Finally, those were gone.

It took about 5 minutes for things to go completely white. When the footprints disappeared, I knew there was some potential for serious trouble. The path was unmarked, I was at least a mile from home in an area only snowmobiles could access. I had less than a hundred feet of vision, closing at times to 10 or 15 feet. Although I had put on three layers, they consisted of two technical shirts and a fleece- not nearly enough to hunker down and weather it out.

Two options remained: I had my iPhone and my (hole-ridden) memory of the landscape. I'm not directionally challenged, but I am certainly not gifted, so I settled on a compromise:

• I would use my (potentially) flawed memory of the landscape, plus a little feeling around with my feet for footprints (they might be covered, but they were still there) and see if I couldn't make it to the tire tracks leading to home.
• If, after 10 minutes of running, I couldn't find the tracks OR lost the footprints at any time, I would whip out the trusty iPhone, pray the battery hasn't frozen to death, and use Google Maps and it's "Locate Me" feature to navigate my way home.

And no, I didn't stop running to figure this out. I kept going, feeling for footprints where I thought they should be.

After nearly exactly 8 minutes, I stumbled into soft powder of a tire-sized trench. I kept to the trench (which sent powder into my shoes straight away) until I broke out onto the roadway, which took me all the way home. As I rolled in the door, I checked my watch. I posted a better time than Wednesday, despite the rather poor conditions. Wow. And phew.

So, here's the post-mortem, the things I've learned from this experience:

• Age makes you feel guilty about doing adventurous things that, not so long ago, would have been an adrenaline rush.
• I'm still not old enough to make that stop me from doing it again.
• Running actually is a pretty good way to keep warm in a snow storm.
• It's also a very good way to get you more lost.
• Two technical shirts and a fleece isn't enough to weather a small blizzard. Not by a long shot.
• The 10 Essentials really are essentials. All right, so I've know that for a while. I've always broken my 10 down to the 3 that could make all 10 (can you figure out which three?), but sometimes, conditions make all 10 absolutely critical.
• This cortisone shot seems to have done the trick.
• Snow is cold. Snow + wind + clouds is colder.
• ...and so much more.

Enjoy the winter months. Be smart and don't do what I write about doing here. If you're a Metge, or related to one, expect things to go wrong in the worst possible way. That way, you will never be surprised when they do.