Countdown to Triathlon – 206 Days, 29.42 weeks to Race Day (See Installment 47 of "The Journey", 220 mile bike ride, below)

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY -
"Never do anything that you wouldn't want to explain to the paramedics."
That's a true statement if ever I saw one!

Today Bob and I slept until 9:00 - unusual for us because I generally get up at 6 or 7.  Because it was foggy, I opted for swimming at the 12:00 lap swim time and then went back at 5:00 PM for the one hour conditioning.  Not a good thing to do on a daily basis because then I get my hair wet twice in one day and have to deal with drying it twice.  It's too cold and damp just to let it dry in the air.

The Journey - Installment Forty-Seven

AN AMBULANCE COMES FOR ME

There I go again.

The reason for alll the falling - clip-less pedals and shoes that attach:

The grooves in the shoes clip into the pedal and hold your feet in a secure position.  You  must move your heels outward in a quick, strong movement in order to release the pedals from the shoe.  Then, it is important to be sure you don't allow the shoe to re-attach, which is what happened in this case.

      
         On our way back from our ride one morning, we crossed through a busy intersection.  Hollen had suddenly changed his mind and stopped at the intersection to turn right and cross over toward Barber’s Point rather than to continue straight towards his home as we usually did.  As I sped past him, not realizing he was going to stop, I braked and clicked out of my pedals.  Evidently though, I must not have moved my heels away from the grooves in the pedals and the shoes fell back into place.  Not realizing that my feet were once again held captive, I braked and began to dismount.  Over I went onto the sidewalk landing hard on my left shoulder and skinning up my knees and legs.  As I lay on the ground I had such an excruciating pain in my shoulder that at first I thought I might have broken it.  Then as I realized the possibility; I began to hope that I had broken my shoulder because then I would have a legitimate excuse for not riding in the bike ride.  I remember thinking, “Oh! I hope I broke my shoulder.”  All I can say now as I write this is that our God is a patient and merciful God.  What an ungrateful baby I am. 

            

        Hollen tried to help me up but I hurt so badly that I told him to just get my feet out of the pedals, pull the bike off and leave me alone for a minute.  I finally was able to stand with his help.  At that point, I told him to lay a blanket out on the grass and we would change the baby’s diaper since we were stopped anyway. My grandson was our constant companion on these excursions riding behind his dad in the baby carrier, which was attached behind his father’s bicycle.  I think I would have died if I had been forced to pull that contraption along with the weight of the baby behind my bike.  Yet Hollen always managed to keep up with me and even get ahead of me at times.  That was a bit disheartening when I could barely keep my own bike and myself moving.

(Grandson Kaleo in the bike trailer.)

(3-1/2 months old)

                

After I stood up, I began to slowly move my arm and shoulder to make sure they were working properly.  Way down the boulevard I heard a siren.  The siren didn’t mean a thing to me until it got closer.  All of a sudden I had a feeling in the pit of my stomach that the siren was for me.  The ambulance passed us and made a U-turn across the center divider in the road and pulled up along side of me.  Both paramedics jumped out and ran toward me.  Then they saw the baby lying on the blanket on the lawn and thought that perhaps a car had hit the baby.  They started to run over to him and I had to quickly reassure them that he was not injured.  Evidently, when I fell and didn’t get up immediately, someone who had been sitting at the stop light at the intersection called 911.  All I could think about was dollar signs!  It was going to cost a fortune for this ambulance.  I told them that I was sorry that they had been called but that I was all right. They noticed that my leg and knees were skinned up and bleeding and said, “At least let us clean up your legs.  We have antiseptic wipes.”  I replied in a half-panic voice, “Wipes? We have baby wipes.  I’ll be okay.  Thanks and sorry for the false alarm.”  I breathed a great sigh of relief as the ambulance pulled away and they hadn’t even asked me my name.  I was in the clear.



Hawaii Fire Department