we're picking through this broken glass
How could we know that our lives
would be full of beautifully broken things...
It's been a really major up-and-down stretch around the Crashing the Boards offices as of late. Crazy how high and low life can take you in such a short period of time.
At any rate, here's what's going on:
Rev3 Florida
I had the distinct pleasure of getting to fly on down to Florida to help the Revolution3 crew out with Rev3 Florida in Venice.
The seeds of this were planted back in August at Rev3 Maine. I wanted to help set-up the expo, as I could volunteer a little bit of my time beforehand. Why not? Naturally, they needed help in retail. So I got down to setting up the bike gear at the expo. If you couldn't find any spare tubes, tires, or multitools, you now know who to blame.
Well, now we roll into September at Rev3 Cedar Point, when I walked into the retail tent to merely pick up a spare tubular and some other small extras. As I was getting ready to walk on out, somebody was there asking a question about a bottle mount (the Profile Design cross mount to put a standard bottle between your aerobars). They then weren't going to use it on race day, because they didn't want to have to set it up. I offered to go out, mount it for them in transition, and have them ready to go. I got done helping him out, and by the time I got back it was "you need to work with us once..."
Well, sure! What the hell? So on down to Florida we went.
If I may make a recommendation: if you have the opportunity to volunteer or work a Rev3 event, do so. You will have more fun than you would ever think possible while working. The crew is very, very much a family. If you've raced a Rev3 event, you've probably noticed that to some extent. I know that when I first raced Rev3 Quassy in 2011, it was noticeable throughout. Well, take that, multiply it by approximately 100 times, and you get the vibe of working with Rev3.
We set up the store, got things ready to rock, had an awesome restaurant providing food for us all weekend long (and, I might add, some awesome margaritas). Then we got down to work: athlete time!
Sold a lot of shoes, set up an X-Lab Torpedo Mount for somebody (side note: these take WAY longer than the Profile Design one), chatted with who I thought was the Quintana Roo rep and actually turned out to be the head of American Bicycle Group (and hey, we share connections to Cape Cod. Small world). I'm pretty positive the picture of my face when Charlie told me when that the "QR rep" was the head of things would have been priceless...
As it turns out, things went really well. That athlete who I put the X-Lab Mount on came back after the race to thank me for helping her out, as it turns out she won her age group with it! Lots of super positive energy, despite the fact that a little storm named Sandy helped to derail a few things. Swim was cancelled due to severe riptides and surf; the wind was absolutely fierce on the bike; and our flights really got all screwed up. I had to come home earlier than expected or risk being marooned in south Florida for a few extra days. I know, the horror...but somebody needs an income! Got the last flight home to Portland Sunday night.
So, what goes up most certainly must come down...
The Beautifully Broken Things: My Shoulder
I came back from Florida having managed to get in a whole whopping one run in while I was down there with Tim and Tony. And not only that, but to use a phrase from Jordan, I had a pretty healthy case of the #pOops. Stopping twice while trying to maintain around 7:00 pace isn't an effective way to make it back. Not only that, but my shoulder was sore as hell. Great, whatever.
Well, head off to the pool on Thursday morning, get in, and my left shoulder (the one that's been giving me issue for a while now) has finally decided to shut itself down really well. The lat is simply shut off. I can't get it to fire. At all. Pull ups? Nope. Nothing in the water. I tried every trick I've got in the book. Nothing. Just all on the top side.
Shut it down.
So I guess I'm a runner for a little while. Going to see a sports injury/chiropractic/ART provider for my shoulder here in the next couple of days. Also going to have some nagging stuff opened up (my hamstrings being about as tight as the head of a snare drum, getting my hip flexors opened up, etc.) Just incredibly frustrating.
Just got to keep rolling on, I s'pose...
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