"Lift your arms for balance."
"Don't step, just place your feet and let gravity do its thing."
"Watch out for loose rocks and hairpin turns."
When running down a singletrack trail at top speed, there are a lot of things to keep in mind. The problem with juggling thoughts while running as fast as you can is that some of those thoughts tend to get dropped.
Two days ago, I was running down a serpentine section of one of Whiskeytown Lake's amazing singletrack trails. I my buddy Matt and I were running with Trevor Nelson, professional athlete and all-around nice guy. I'm no pro, but I'm cocky, so I was doing my best to keep up with him. Instead of trying to maintain speed (and control) on the downhill sections, I decided to race as fast as I could and try to stay as close as I could to him.
It only took half a mile to sprain my ankle. I was whipping downhill, dodging rocks and poison oak, when my right foot hit a loose rock and rolled over like a well-trained dog. I heard a pop, hissed a quick prayer ("JESUS!"), and kept going.
Since I'm not one to learn lessons, I picked up the pace, kept my eyes on the trail, and promptly sailed straight through a switchback, trying unsuccessfully to hurdle a huge bush of poison oak.
Thankfully, the last five miles went without further incident. The ankle actually felt pretty good, but later that afternoon, my ankle started to stiffen up and look like it was taking HGH.
Can't even tell, right?
Matt, the wiser of the two of us, kept a comfortable pace and made it through the run unscathed. Apparently pride does go before a fall.
I plan on falling a lot.
I've been hitting the RICE (Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation) method pretty hard, giving it regular dunks in the old ice bucket, and applying Iron Hands liberally. Things are looking better already.
Good as new(ish)
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