Oh mah gawd that hurt!

So... here's what happened: I'm running on Camelback like I always do, only this time I randomly hook up with some dude named, "Steve," who I know from running there a bunch. He's totally, totally fast... so I battled him a bit on the uphill on Cholla, then raced him down Echo.

We were really hauling ass. With Man Against Horse the next weekend, I was in fine, fighting shape. Just feeling good.

I lost him on the climb back up Echo, but no biggy -- it's all about challenging yourself, not some random guy. Anyway... having a really good time, reached the top in a pretty brutal pace.

I immediately begin my descent. Now, I've run down Cholla about a billion times... I've fallen a bunch over the years, but never taken much more damage than a few cuts and bruises. Wipeouts are inevitable, really.

However, when I hit a slippery patch of rocks about halfway down, I went right over the side. The actual fall wasn't too bad, but I knew immediately something was wrong.

I halfway composed myself, took a good look at my shoulder, and the whole world went white for a moment. I sat down, and took another look... my shoulder was all out of place. It was crazy looking!

Since it's a well traveled trail, some random dude came upon me almost immediately. Acting purely out of instinct, I was like, "Hey! Will you help me out? I just need you to pull on my arm and try to jam this thing back into it's socket!"

The pain was incredible... he was, understandably reluctant: "Uhh... I don't really know how to do that."

"Oh come on man, we've seen this in the movies a million times! All you gotta do is pull it and it should work. Why not?"

To his credit, he actually gave it a shot. Of course, it didn't work... nor did my attempt to swing my arm out and make it pop back in on it's own.

A few moments later, Steve and another dude came down the mountain and stopped to help. Let me take a break for a sec to say this -- the people who hike that mountain are awesome! So many people -- total strangers, really -- took time to help out some freak wearing nothing other than a black pair of running shorts and some shoes who had a completely horrible looking injury.

The called 911. Then this other guy -- I wish I knew his name -- took off his shirt and used it as a kind of brace. He tied it around my chest, holding my damaged arm tight to my body.

"Ouch!" is pretty much I was thinking... but I really, really didn't want to be rescued by a helicopter. I've seen that happen too many times on Camelback.

We decided to give it a shot walking down the mountain.

When you've run it a million times, it's hard to be careful and go slow! Still... with their help, I took my time, and made it down to meet the firefighters / paramedics at the bottom.

I hope I thanked everyone! I was a little out of it, but that was super awesome. If you ever need to renew your faith in humanity, take a nasty fall on Camelback.

From there, the rest is a little bit of a blur. The paramedics loaded me up with morphine, which made me dopey, but didn't really dull the pain.

I hopped in the ambulance and, after a quick stop at my car to grab my phone, id, keys, and credit card, we went to the ER.

After a quick set of x-rays... again ouch ouch ouch ouch... the doc and nurse knocked me out and reset my arm. Sooooo glad I wasn't awake for that!

I woke up a few moments later feeling way better. Surveying the damage, I had a bunch of road rash, but nothing too serious. I'll probably have a pretty gnarly scar on my right leg, but it'll just balance out the scar on my left thigh.

... Where did I get that, you might wonder... Don't ask. I'm 33, I should probably know better than to run on Camelback.

So... it doesn't look like I did any permanent damage. My right shoulder is messed up and I'm wearing a sling, so that kinda sucks... I'll have it on for the next three weeks or so. No pain, really... a little bit from my right leg, but nothing that would prevent me from running. My right shoulder has a very limited range of motion, though... and is feeling pretty weak.

Could certainly be worse.

I'm going to miss my next couple of scheduled races -- Man Against Horse and the Javalina Jundred, but I'll probably roll by a few of the local events to volunteer and help out.

I got a leash for my dog that I can wrap around my waist so we can still get out, so I've been doing some nice long walks. It's totally dorky, but it's all good. That's the price I have to pay, I guess.

So... I'd say that it's a rather auspicious way to begin 5769, but enough good stuff is going on that I've got no complaints. Got a bunch of good books to read, plenty to keep me busy while I'm off my feet.

Lesson learned, I guess.