Silence from the bench

It has been quiet around here. My adventuring and running has been limited......that's if you don't count a week spent tramping around in the canyons and desert playground of Arizona, Utah and Nevada. I guess I don't do injured very well and unfortunately, I am about to enter the seventh week of my angry high ankle sprain.  Things are not healing on my schedule, no matter how much I will it to be so.  I try soooooo hard to rest and ice and behave myself, but sometimes I am overtaken by the uncontrollable urge to be lost in the woods or high on a mountain. What's a girl to do when faced with the possibility of going insane from inactivity and being indoors?  I have learned how badly I need this crazy, adventurous way of living in order to, well.......live.

I managed to hobble in and out of the Grand Canyon.  Twice.  I also got most of the way up Angel's Landing in Zion National Park.  My broken ligaments were no match for the treacherous, icy ledges so we decided to turn around just prior to the point where you would die if you fell. See....I'm not completely stupid.  I also played tour guide to my roommate, Angela, and took her canyoneering down to a "locals" hot springs hide-out just outside of Las Vegas. I have an innate sense of belonging to the desert so have no problems pretending to be local.  And who knew that just 40 minutes from the Vegas strip you could transform yourself from the arid, desolate low-lying Nevada desert up to a coniferous forest at 12000 feet on the side of Mt Charleston.  We explored that too and it was awesome.  Dammit, this injury is not going to steal the Nicki out of me.

I continue to keep moving as best I can. I've stood on the summit of Prairie Mountain seven times in the last two weeks, in seven different types of weather (such is Calgary in Feb/March).  And, I've hauled myself up Lady Mac, Sulphur Mountain, and Ranger Ridge....albeit slowly and carefully and braced up-the-wazoo. I'm keeping the athletic tape industry in business.

Unfortunately, all that fun probably came a little too soon, but I have no regrets because my soul needed the respite from sitting on its butt in front of my work computer for so long.

Everyone is asking me about Barkley.  You mean that 100 mile race, considered the hardest ultra in the world, that is just 2 weeks away despite the fact I still can't run?  Let's just say there has been some goal readjustment.  Heck, it's not a race for finishers anyway, so not much has changed......really. I'll still show up in Frozen Head State Park on the fool's weekend to eat my share of Laz's raw chicken, hang my number plate, and begin the multi-year project to one day defy impossible and finish the Barkley (if I get given a second chance).  

This week I have an MRI booked to determine the extent of damage I have done to my ankle and to provide me with a realistic estimate of how long I am going to be on the bench. So, from the sidelines I utter the words of my late husband......Du Courage, Nicki.