THE SCARS TO PROVE IT

I REMEMBER THE FIRST REALLY GOOD CRASH on the road. I'd bombed down the steep asphalt with no chance of making the turn...
... I thought I'd burned a hole right through the knee cap.
Palms were bleeding.
I was five.
Blasting a 12 hour MTB race, I wanted to turn in the hot lap at night.
The front end washed out and I hit hard.
Tore up the bibs,
a bleeding cherry the size of my palm on my hip.
Hustling up a steep rocky section, my cleat pulled out of my pedal,
then spun around like an ice cream scooper,
taking a chunk of my shin.
Two of us were vying for the cleanest line over a rocky drop off.
I lost,
urgent care revealed my cracked ribs.
Pre-running a Super-D course I misjudged the angle of a drop,
and augured in on my collar bone.
Broke off one inch of the end.
Everyone of these injuries left a...
- mark
- lesson
- memory
... proof I was pushing the boundaries of my capabilities.
From there it was...
... improve or back down.
That's the choice.
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160.5
8.5 hrs sleep
Pullups, pushups, dead lifts
10 minutes recovery
90 minutes reading + Journaling
74 (fitness per training peaks)
30 min vision therapy