Wipeouts while running are pretty rare for me.  god didn’t give me much, but he did give me the agility gene.  my buddy bart hammond once called me a goat as we scamped through the trails in the colorado rockies.  well, i had a classic fall today in the nastiest stinky mud that we have in Calavera (one of the mountain bike trail sites we have close to the house in Carlsbad, CA where i live). 

This particular creek crossing where i fell is famous becuase my buddy hugh kollar buried his front wheel there a couple years ago then jacknived his body over the handle bars burying his arm 3 feet deep in the wet stinky clay, up to his shoulder.  the worst part is that it is a stagnant, stinky area of wet clay.   

Well, it rained today but i thought i’d take my brand new adidas trail shoes out for their maiden voyage.  it was a lot wetter than i anticipated and i kept accumulating mud on the bottom of my shoes.  when i approached the creek crossing i noticed a puddle of water accumulated – which is rare for the summer time in this area.  i hopped the puddle and landed on my left sliding a classic “Yamaguchi“ and fell flat on my back with a big splash.  in my struggle in the slippery clay to get up my left hamstring gumbied (cramped) so i had to lie there in the stinky mud, laughing at myself, until my cramp subsided.  when i got up i was covered in grey stinky clay.  and it took all i had to climb out of the creek area becuase it was so slippery.  well, i was still 4 miles from the house so i had no choice but to continue. the run.  when i got to civilization (the crossing at el camino) i amused a bunch of folks in their cars as their stared at me in disbelief.