In January, I wrote about the Border Patrol Challenge and my running goals. Things were going well as my mileage continued to increase. Rusty and I joined friends on the local trails each weekend and everything was going well.

Anna and I headed to the Eastern Competitive Trail Riding Association (ECTRA) weekend getaway Feb 9-11 in the Harrisonburg, PA area. We enjoyed some winter lectures and the annual banquet. When we got home on Sunday afternoon, the getaway had motivated us for the upcoming ride season and it was a wonderful mid-40s Sunday afternoon, so I got Gamble out of the barn to do some work. We did our normal 15-20 min of ground work before I mounted and Amanda was riding JJ in the arena at the same time. About 10 minutes into my ride, things went very wrong and I was on the ground. An hour later the pain was severe enough that Anna convinced me to go to the ER. The 5 hours at the hospital revealed nothing was broken but I was pretty beat up and the bruising has been even worse than following the accident with Huey last Fall. As a result, I haven’t been able to run but hope to get back to it soon. While I missed the Colchester half marathon today, I am hoping this injury doesn’t preclude the rest of my plans.

It is likely we will be sending Gamble out for some professional training as the gaps in his training are pretty substantial. And I’m tired of getting hurt.

In other news, Amanda participated in the county 4-H public speaking contest last night and will be moving on to the state competition. He presentation was the “Development of Baby Goats” which is timely since we have Tulsi due to kid tomorrow. Goat kid pics will be coming soon!