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Kissing Boulders...

Monday, 13 January 2014 00:10

By Ben Ewers (benewers.blogspot.com)

I entered an Xterra trail race in the White Tank Mountains just west of Phoenix this last Sunday because I normally jog in the desert by myself and I thought this would be a more social way to get my exercise.  Well, it turned out that this 20K race was on a very "technical", narrow, rocky trail more suitable for billy goats with almost 2,000 ft of elevation change.  I was very careful and walked much of the steeper inclines.  On a steep descent about 4 miles from the finish I stumbled and fell so quickly I still can't recreate the accident in my mind.  I was in a line of joggers all carefully picking our way down the mountain and suddenly I was "kissing" a large boulder with my jaw and mouth.  I partially broke my fall with my right hand but not before the damage was done.  The runners around me stopped to help but practically there were only two ways out of the mountain:  walk/jog or helicopter.  While I was bleeding profusely, I had not lost conscious nor.....

broken any skeletal bones (at the time I thought I had broken my jaw).  I decided to finish the run to get to the aid station at the finish.  Which I did. READ MORE