Just Put Some Peanut Butter On It

All you have to do to ruin any good fortune in your life is to talk about it. At a party this past Saturday, I was talking trail running with some friends and I expressed my good fortune in not turning any ankles in a long time. Its not hard to see where this is going is it?

Well sure enough after running the entire Rainbow Falls trail at Jones Gap I was happily pacing back to the car on the flat section next to the Middle Saluda when out of nowhere I was laying flat on the ground with my ankle screaming at me. I was in absolute agony but was able to walk out. Applying the usual regiment of ice, a little rest, elevation has helped but in no way can I race Cohutta this weekend. So I will be on the sidelines cheering (making fun and drinking beer) the racer types.

What about PMBAR? Well thanks to some emails from my partner in crime, I remembered the adversity we have faced in the past four years racing PMBAR together.

The first year I lost the map on a fall going up Laurel, only to find the map with another team going back down Laurel. Then we descended Black in the dark with pretzel lamps.

The next year went by without too much adversity besides the normal PMBAR madness, no brake pads left and a spent rotor at the end of the day. ~The year of the angry burrito.

In 2008, my handlebar broke descending Clawhammer. I descended Black from Pressley with ¾ of a handle bar.

Last year I started the day with some bleach in the eye and then slid under a Jeep on 225 breaking my front brake lever. Again, we finished despite the circumstances.

So in 2010 the adversity begins before the race . . .