THE BURNING QUESTION

The burning question is "Where in the world has Melissa Guthrie been for the past 3 months?" If you've know me for long, you know my life is simply one adventure after another. I will tell you where I've been... deep in the Jungles of Asia on an exploration tour, sailing the 7 seas in search of lost treasures, cycling through the European Countryside, & hiking the Summit of Kilamonjaro. In my dreams that is where I've been. The truth is far less glamorous. You see I last wrote in July after completing my first triathlon of the year. I had a good race, started to feel very hopeful that I could have another good racing season despite the slow start because of my broken foot in October 2005. Then I got caught up in preparation to move from my beloved home in Franklin, TN back to Arizona to spend the winter months with my family in Arizona. I was looking forward to getting into the triathlon scene in AZ, excited about the opportunities for a winter racing season, new training and racing friends, and opportunities to grow as an athlete. I scheduled my first race for 5 days after my arrival in Arizona. The race is call Tri In The Pines and is located in the small Northern Arizona town of Show Low. I knew nothing about the race, aside from that Show Low is a beautiful place and I was excited about having my Dad be there to watch me race. He had never seen me compete as a triathlete yet. So the day before the race I was rapping up some loose ends with my business and finishing up some last minute packing, prior to our 3 hour drive to Show Low. I was feeling very odd: my energy was drained, I felt as though I had this little black cloud following me around. Now for anyone who knows me well, me and black clouds are not compatible in the least. I am a happy, energetic, optimistic, positive person most always. For some reason I was having a difficult time shaking it, nonetheless I elicited the help of my strong will and forged ahead with my intentions to go have a great race. I mentally started to feel better as we started our drive, however as the day progressed I began to feel worse and worse physically.

Upon arriving in Show Low we headed right to the race site, I registered and then like the good little athlete I am we drove the bike course in the car to get familiar with the course. I planned to bike part of the course in the morning for my warm up, since it was not yet blocked off and was a long a major highway. Once I got there and saw how they had the race set up, I was a bit disappointed to be honest. They were doing a funky wave start that dragged on for 4 hours, so I would not be starting until after 9AM. I was feeling really positive about the small number of competitors and the fact that the competition didn't look like a very experienced crowd. I would easily place if not win. Oh how I love to win.

Next, we got settled in our hotel room and I finished prepping my transition bag before we head out to find a decent meal in this one stop light, one horse town. Aside from the limited choice of eating establishments I am beginning to feel worse by the minute. The best way to describe it was I just felt YUCKY. No energy, no appetite (that is super strange for me, the girl who is hungry all the time.), & a heavy, unsettled feeling in my gut. Now this is not looking or feeling like the makings of a great race. I put my positive self talk to work, telling myself I'm feeling better by the minute, I'm going to have a great race. Finally we opt for the only restaurant that looks promising and I choose a light meal of grilled fish, steamed veggies, and roasted potatoes & force myself to eat since I can't go into a race the next day on an empty tank.

I went to bed praying that I'd feel better, visuallizing myself performing my very best, making my sponsor "Snickers" and my Dad proud. I slept very well and woke up the next morning feeling refreshed, energetic and enthusiastic. I had a small bowl of oatmeal, 1/2 banana & plenty of water & I was ready to head to the race site 30 minutes prior to race start and more than 3 hours prior to start time. Now here is where it gets crazy....

First of all, parking for competitors and spectators was across the highway from the race site and so in order to get to the race site meant one had to cross a 5 lane highway that was unsupervised or monitored for crossing safety. So we put our life on the line to get to the transition area, fortunately safely. I make my way to the bike racks, where I notice first of all this is a little chaotic, so what transition area isn't a little that way, right. Well, let me explain. No organization whatsoever, first come first serve racking with those in the front racks having clear advantage over those in the back racks. So I do my best to find an open spot as close to the front as possible and let me tell you this was not an easy feat. You see, there was no rhyme or reason to how people were racking there bikes or where they were placing there transition gear. I asked some fellow competitors about the bike racking chaos and they seemed to be pretty complacent about it. By the time I was able to make a spot for myself and get situated it was nearly time for the first wave to start their pool swim, there was no race announcer or anyone monitoring the transition area so I didn't know if it was too late to do a quick ride in and out on my bike for warm up. I could not find anyone to ask, so I opted to go out for a run on the run course and call that good. I had driven the bike course and that was better than nothing. After a warm up and stretch, I noticed something very strange as I made it back toward transition area and the follwing is what I observed and experience for the duration of this event.

Transition area was a free-for-all. Competitors could come and go in and out of transition at anytime prior to and during the race, as were spectators. Spectators were walking around freely through the bike rack area and through transition routes from pool to transition area and crossing the path of athletes into and out of transition on bike course and run course as well. Spectators and athletes were lingering in transition area--around and in between bike racks through out the race. Those with later start times were arriving to the race site at leisure throughout the morning. Some people were coming in and putting their bikes in the places where other competitors bikes had been – these competitors were currently on the bike course and would come back to find their spot on the rack taken. In addition, there were not enough racks for all competitors. As a result, some athletes were left to place their bikes on the ground to the side of transition racks. Bike mount and dismount was not regulated, some athletes observed mount/dismount rules, others biked in and out of transition with no regard to mount/dismount line. The covered torso rule was not enforced, as some male athletes were competing with bare torsos. What freaked me out the most was the fact that as I'm observing the transion routes from pool to bikes and the bike in/bike out point, there were spectators leisurely crossing these paths throughout the event & no race staff monitoring these areas or making any type of bullhorn announcement to keep these paths clear for athletes. YIKES!!

I was blown away by what I witnessed, spectators following competitors into transition area helping them in their transition from pool to bike & bike to run. I also noticed that the majority of the folks participating were not highly competitive, experienced athletes--reminded me more of the weekend warrior types. Despite my concerns and bewilderment at the race proceedings, I was very confident that this was going to be a great race for me and I was mentally prepared to take my place on the podium.

After 2 hours of waiting it was my time to race. I made my way to the pool area through the mess of spectators. Now the swim was a pool swim consisting of 13 lengths. After a brief warm up swim, the gun was fired and I was off. I started off a bit faster than I probably should have and was burning in my gut the whole time, finally I hit my last length and I am mentally feeling awesome. I had a strong swim and I'm out of the pool, carefully walking along the wet pool deck (no non-slip matting, big surprise). I hit the pavement and that is my signal to put it into high gear. I am like a bolt to my bike-- I had my course to my bike clearly mapped out, provided I didn't encounter any spectator obstacle. Fortunately I didn't. My Dad couldn't believe how fast I was, compared to so many of the others. He didn't even have a chance to catch a picture. I was on my bike in nothing flat. I love the bike, because it is where I visually & mentally really win the race. I was in my zone, playing my movie in my head. Now the bike course was a little challenging with rolling hills and a couple of relatively long climbs. It was two loops. I finished lap one feeling okay, yet my legs felt a little spent. I just kept focused and telling myself how great I was doing. I finally was coming up to the final stretch on lap two -- a bit of an uphill to the parking lot, followed by a hairpin turn on a downhill into the parking lot where transition racks were set up. Now as I hit this stretch I started to go into defensive driver mode. Previously in the day, I had witnessed spectators walking all through this area, crossing the path of the bike course freely. I was preparing myself to be aware of my surroundings for safety. As I was approaching the hair-pin turn leading into transition, I could see through the trees some spectators walking through the area that I’d be turning into. so I started feeling a lot of anxiety. I didn't realize I had my hands on the lower section of my handle bars, as opposed to on my aerobars like I usually do, this through me off as I went to grab for my brakes to slow down I had caught a lot of speed on the downhill turn. My one hand slipped and my other hand caught the brake causing me and my bike to flip. . I sustained a fractured right wrist and shattered left clavicle, along with road rash down my back. There was no race staff monitoring transition area, aside from a teenage girl sitting in a chair near the mount/dismount line. My Dad who was watching from a spectator area came running when he realize there was no one from the race staff coming to assist me. He assisted me in getting back to my spot on the bike rack and helped me lay down. Other spectators & competitors were standing observing and still no race staff or race officials were to be seen. My Dad ran into the aquatic center to get assistance. He said he told them there had been a serious accident and to get medical help immediately. He said they all acted as if they did not quite know what to do. A teenage young man came out to see what my Dad was talking about. My Dad asked him if he had brought a first aid kit, he had not. My Dad sent him back in to get one. He returned with another teenage young man and a first aid kit. My Dad asked them if the ambulance was on the way, as he observed me going into shock. They said they did not know. He ordered one of them to go call the paramedics immediately. The other young man began administering first-aid by putting ice on my wrist and pouring water on my abrasions. At no time during the incident was I or my father assisted by an adult member of the race staff or a race official. There were no paramedics on site for the race. Approximately 25 -30 minutes after the accident, the ambulance arrived. The paramedics who finally came to my aid stated that they had no idea that there was a race going on in town that day. We found this unbelievable as the race was said to be sponsored by the town of Show Low.

The ER visit was rather interesting. I was in excruciating pain, strapped to a board, & in major denial that this was real. Bad dream & I'd wake up all ready to start the day fresh and win the race. One of the first things I asked for when we got to the hospital was for a priesthood blessing. Fortunately there were some men from my church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints that worked at the hospital and were able to bless me. That was a great source of comfort to me, as was simply having my Dad by my side. I was simply miserable, there was a girl in the ER bed next to me that ackowledge my condition and reminded me that at least I didn't have road rash on my face. That helped me to realize I truly had so much to be grateful for, it could have been much worse. After what seemed like an eternity waiting for x-ray results and going through muliple painful procedure like cleaning the road rash. The doctor came into affirm that not only did I have a severly shattered collar bone -- broken horizontally as well as vertically, I also had a fractured wrist. I laid there for a minute letting it sink in and then I just started laughing. I looked at my Dad and he half-smiled not knowing what to do or say...I said "oh Dad! oh Dad!! Life is going to be really fun for a while. How I am going to get out of this swimming suit (which I had been racing in), how am I going to dress & undress, shower, feed myself, drive, work on the computer, hold a phone,.....oh Dad! How am I going to take a shower and go to the bathroom????? This is going to take some extreme creativity."

I have to say I am so extremely grateful for family. My parents have been angels. Doing for me what had to be done in my near helplessness. An experience like this is extremely humbling and a true test of patience.

So my racing season came to a screaching halt and I've been in the midst of a very tough lesson of life. My recovery has been as strange as the race and the accident itself. After a lifetime of expception medial care from M.D.'s, D.O.'s, Chiropractors, Massage therapist, Phyiscal therapist, etc. I have encounted my first Dr. Jerk. I truly pray a blessing on the the man actually. He seems to have misplaced his professionalism, his sense of patient care and well-being, as well as simple human compassion & understanding. It has now been 2 months to the date of the accident and I am still in almost constant pain. Until today he has not taken one follow up x-ray to see how the bone is healing. He kept me in this crazy, painful contraption for 6 weeks, then told me to stop wearing it, start doing arm exercises and running if I want to--all this without ever taking an x-ray to know what was going on. Needless to say I wore that painful straight jacket for two more weeks until the pain got so bad I could not stand it any longer. After my Mother having to call his office to insist he do an x-ray to see how the healing is coming along, he did so today. He casually looked at the film without putting it on the light board & without comparing it to the one original x-ray taken in at ER the day of the accident. My mother who was there asked him about comparing the two x-rays and he totally blew her off, saying that it'd be pointless to compare them, since no healing had taken place in the first x-ray. Interesting logic Doc. He asked me if it still hurts. I said yes. He pressed on it just to make sure. Then he stated that the bone is not forming as quickly as he had expected, I must be a slow healer and should come back in 3 weeks. Oh and maybe it's not a good idea for me to run yet. Then I asked about the bump from the bone not laying flat, my other collar bone healed perfectly without any bump--no one would ever know it was broken. He told me it is impossible for a collar bone to form with out a bump & there was nothing that could be done for it. When I asked how my other one healed with out a bump, he said blew me off with some comment about every bone healing with a bump. Can you say I was astounded?!! Not only have I always been a very quick healer, when I broke my other collar bone and when I broke my foot a year ago, they both healed even faster than the docs expected. My Mom was furious. I will be going to another physician for a care from here on out. In the meantime, continuing to rely on my strong faith in God, faith in the miracle of divine healing, and my child-like optimism to get me through a most challenging time. I thank you for your prayers in my behalf -- there is massive power in prayer. Please let me know if there is anything in your life or anyone whom I add to my prayers.

Check back soon for More Burning Questions Answered.