Do you ever forget if you locked the car 5 steps after you walked away from it? Or cant remember if you turned your flat iron off as you drive to work? Locked the front door before you went to bed? Left the oven on after you pull cookies out? Tightened the front wheel on your bike? These seemingly menial tasks that help keep you safe from potentially bad situations are the same ones you have done so many times that your brain is programmed to "double-check" them. 99% of the time you have subconsciously done it, but every now and then you have a "lapse." Yesterday I was unlucky enough to have one and lapsed on the smallest of tasks that nearly turned me into a vegetable.

I have recently re-discovered my delight in rock climbing. The aviation gym on base has some indoor rock walls and Mike and I have taken to climbing as a part of our warm up before we do our strength training. Yesterday while waiting for him to get off work so we could lift I decided to climb. The walls have an auto-belay device so one can climb solo without a partner, all you have to do is clip  in the carabiner to your harness and once you have reached the top you kick back from the wall and it slowly repels you to the ground.

I was 30 minutes into a great session attacking the walls like a monkey on crack when I decided to grab a drink and check my phone to find out where my husband was. I changed the song on my ipod and was jamming to Rise Against while contemplating my next line: brown and red up the right side, a more challenging line I hadn't been able to get up that day. I carefully picked my first handholds and started the strenuous crawl up the slightly inverted wall. My forearms were cramping with fatigue by the time I reached the hardest point where I had to swing my left leg up and lunge for the next hand hold. I didn't quite make it and my foot slipped but I managed to get both hands on the grip and pull myself up. I reached the top of the 20ft wall and slapped it in victory with a big grin on my face ready to brag to Mike. I let go and ki  cked back from the wall to repel dow n when to my horror realized I wasn't clipped in to the auto belay. My arms swung and legs kicked the air in vain until the split second before I hit the ground when I thought "$#@& I'm about to be paralyzed." I landed on my feet and then crumpled into a ball as the force of the shock wave rippled through my body. 

Once I realized I was still alive and breathing I went into autopilot checking all my major bones first for noticeable breaks and moving each joint. Satisfied I wasn't paralyzed I focused on my feet which were burning with pain. I recalled learning in my basics of athletic training class that heel bruises were extremely painful. Could I have gotten that lucky? Upon palpation I knew I was in trouble, but not sure how bad. I rolled over to my bag and sent Mike a txt. I then formed a plan of action to get myself out of the gym. I must have been in a little shock because my priority suddenly became getting out of there without anyone knowing what happened, It sounds ridiculous now but I had it in my head that I would be in trouble for not being clipped in to the belay. Keeping my head down to hide the pain I shuffled  slowly on unsteady legs to the front counter where I returned my harness and jump rope mumbling a thanks to the desk girl then bit my lip as I turned away and shuffled out. By the time I made it to the car the pain had overwhelmed me and I collapsed into the seat in tears. Mike made it shortly after and rushed me to the ER where the waiting game began. 

After 2 hours I finally got a bed and some drugs followed by 8 hours of x-rays, MRI's and CT scans to conclude that I survived the fall with nothing more than bilateral calcaneus fractures (two broken heel bones).

Miraculously my back, knees, tibias and hips are all strong and well. The jerkface of a doctor did not seem to understand I am an athlete and have superhealing capabilities so he insisted on admitting me to the hospital overnight where my poor husband has been curled up on a tiny chair all night trying to sleep while I am flyin high as a kite on morphine.  

Looks like I am out of commission for the next few weeks which I am super bummed about especially seeing that I finally got my legs back and was excited to race Phoenix this weekend. However, I was so fortunate to not have done worse damage dropping from 20ft. My fractures are minor and lucky for me I am a cyclist not a marathon runner so I should be back on the bike soon.

For me its another bump in the road, and its not the first time for me so I know what  its going to take mentally and physically to get back to shredding the bike. Each time I have had to take time off for an injury i've come back stronger and faster so for now its going to be lots of downtime reading a laundry list of books and getting buff arms doing wheelchair sprints and wheelies down the street...