7/7/15. The post where I learn a lesson in pain management.

7/7/15: for the most part, it was a really nice holiday weekend.  The only issue?  Somehow I managed to strain my left trapezoid muscle on Friday.  Not quite sure how or when it happened, but I suspect I was doing something heroic, like taking dishes out of the dishwasher or putting on my seatbelt.  Welcome to middle age.  

As you know, I'm accustomed to living with daily pain and I feel like my tolerance is pretty high, so I decided to give it a little time to heal on its own, much to my patient, long-suffering husband's chagrin.  But a few days of heating pads and aspirin didn't do the trick, so I gave in and went to the doctor's office this morning, where I got an official diagnosis and a couple of prescriptions.  I have to admit that while it is a relief to deal with a medical issue that looks like it will be resolved in a matter of days, it is still frustrating.

Watching the Tour de France is certainly giving me perspective, though.  The cyclist in me loves watching the Tour every year and I nearly always pick a favorite rider early on.  This year I picked Fabian Cancellara from Switzerland, who is riding his last Tour before retiring.  He's a great cyclist and seems like a nice guy, and it appeared he had a good chance to win in his final year.  (The fact that he is not difficult to look at had nothing to do with my decision, I assure you.)  In fact, as of stage 2 of the race, he was the overall leader and got to wear the yellow jersey for stage 3 yesterday.  

Stage 3 didn't go so well.  Midway through the stage, there was a huge crash involving multiple riders who were riding at approximately 40 mph.  (For comparison purposes, on my very best day on completely flat surfaces, I'm lucky to average about 13 mph.)  http://www.theguardian.com/sport/video/2015/jul/06/tour-de-france-crash-riders-injured-video. In the video, you can see Cancellara (wearing the yellow jersey) fly over his handlebars.  After receiving a bit of medical attention, he got back on his bike and rode another 40 miles, in obvious pain, to finish the stage.  After he finished the stage, he went to the hospital, where doctors discovered he had two broken vertebrae.  He had to withdraw from the Tour today, as did several other riders who were also injured in the crash.  When asked why he finished the stage yesterday, he said he wanted to "honor the yellow jersey."  Wow.  I suppose it wouldn't kill me to get up off the couch and do a load of laundry.