A broken clavicle requiring surgery in April has meant no riding for me for the last three months plus... What to do with all of my time?!? Once I got over the "oh my gosh, I should be riding!!!" angst (which took a while, longer than I wanted) I settled into my new exercise routine which started with walking and then progressed to swimming and running. Sorry folks, I refuse to ride the trainer!
The walking helped me fall in love with my neighborhood again. The slow pace of walking allowed me to see all kinds of things I never saw while on a bike.
When I was cleared to run, I was again reminded of the lovely simplicity of this kind of exercise. No need to have pockets full of food and tools or a huge block of time to spare. Just good shoes and a ponytail holder.
I made new friends at the swimming pool who asked me every week how my shoulder was healing. The quiet meditative calm of the pool provided me with a new challenge as I struggled to swim efficiently and gracefully, and this I never mastered but did get to the point of enjoying it.
I also got reacquainted with weeding my garden, which is something that gets put off when riding and racing my bike. I am determined to have more vegetables than weeds this year. I also became one with my sewing machine which helped me reconnect to my creative side, another part of myself that I don't seem to have a lot of time for when racing. I've been to California, Alaska, Oregon and Michigan since this happened and got to take in these wonderful places slowly on foot rather than quickly on two wheels.
So, all in all, I have found some silver linings in this ordeal. I don't recommend breaking a collar bone as a way to rediscover parts of yourself that get pushed aside while training and racing intensely, but if it does happen, know you will survive it and both your clavicle and your spirit will be stronger in the end.
Tough Girl Kimberly
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