The irony of it all

Sunday, I had planned to ride my bike about four miles to watch some friends run the local half and full marathon. So the man friend set the coffee maker for 5:30 AM so I'd wake up to the brewing, sputtering and fabulous aroma. Trust me, it makes 5:30 AM seem a bit more manageable.

You know what else makes 5:30 more manageable? A donut. A cinnamon sugar cake donut and a few donut holes with said coffee in travel mug on the way home to pick up your bike and ride in the rain. YUM. Yeah, so I'm not EXACTLY following that "no crappy sugar" rule I put in place a few weeks ago, but I am being a bit more careful.

So I got home, had a bowl of real food (total bran cereal) to fill me up and pulled on the Goretex. I made my way to the start of the marathon and met up with my friend Stef. We had planned to bike around the course and see the runners a few places as we had last year. Only this time it was rainy. Go figure.

Well, after making a few stops, we parked our bikes at mile eight for 30 min or so. Lately, my back tire hasn't been holding air too well so I had pumped it pretty good before leaving the house. I'd been meaning to take it to the bike shop to get a new tube (because I surely don't have any mechanic skills even if my dad is a heavy equipment mechanic), but just never got around to it.

Friend C came to join us and after a while S and C left to head to the finish and I stayed to watch for a fellow running group member who is 75! I kid you not this guy is so impressive. I want to be running 1/2 marathons at his age and have is awesome attitude to boot! After seeing John's smiling face go by I hopped on my bike. Well friends, by this point my back tire had gone completely flat.

As I rolled off the curb on to the street, the flat tire caused my bike to go one way and my body to go another. Result? I fall off my ugly purple mountain bike I've owned since high school and directly on my left knee (the right one has been injured from running) and then the rest of my body in front of a crowd of spectators. Fabulous.

I start walking limping away just trying not to sob. You know that feeling. Your breathe gets short, you're gasping for air and your eyes start filling with water. A college kid (whom I definitely would have had a crush on if I were still in college) runs after me and asks if I'm ok because he saw me fall and now sees me limping. I shake my head and do my best to assure him I'm fine and I'll have a friend pick me up (which at this point was a total lie. I was going to walk the mile or so to the finish line).

I grab my phone and call C (who has a big SUV) and ask for a ride home after the race. C realizes something's wrong and asks if I'm ok. I manage a "yeah, I'm fine" for about two seconds and then I start sobbing. C, an expecting mother, insists I'm not fine and comes to the rescue to pick me and my sorry bike up and we head to the finish line. We miss our friends (and C's husband) finishing thanks to my damn accident, but I really appreciated having friends nearby at that moment.

So now, two days later, my knee is scraped, has some fluid in it and is starting to bruise, but I think it's healing. Just in time for Europe. How ironic is it that I managed to have two bum knees before I go traipsing around Europe for three weeks? I'm crossing my fingers I don't need any medical assistance while I'm there because this girl is not buying international health insurance.

Euro vacation countdown: 3 days!

P.S. Packing is going well. Everything is laid out. I'll take pics tonight and give you a little more in depth report on my backpack soon (because I know you're sitting on the edge of your seat just waiting for it).