So how do you define luck? Are you unlucky if a number of things happen to you that you wish would not happen, or are you lucky because these things could be a whole lot worse?

Rob Williams Running at "The Beaver Freezer" triathlon.

Two weeks ago I was pre-riding the course for the Mudslinger mountain bike race and took a bad fall opening up a hole in my elbow that took 14 stitches to close. I considered myself pretty lucky that I did not tweak my neck, break a collarbone, or snap a wrist. In a few days I was riding on a trainer then out on the road shortly thereafter.

So now fast forward to Friday, April 7. I was fortunate enough to have an afternoon meeting in Corvallis so that I can spend the weekend with Erica and do the Beaver Freezer Triathlon on Saturday. The name comes from the Oregon State University mascot, the beavers, combined with the fact that you freeze while running around wet in next to no clothing on an early April Pacific Northwest morning. But ever since I did this sprint triathlon (500 yard swim - 12.6 mile bike - 3.1 mile run) as my first race in 1998 I have done it every year since with two exceptions.

Since Erica ends up getting stuck with some tough cases in the clinic I run home to pick up my bike and do a quick workout to get myself ready for the race. The clouds are gathering, but I am sure that I will have time for a 40 minute bike with a few hard interval efforts, and a quick 8 minute run.

As I am spinning back to the house a driver behind me decides that it would be fun to scare a bicyclist, at least this is the only explanation I can think of while riding along in the bike lane. The next think I know a large grey truck is accelerating, honking, and swerving at me. The problem with looking over your left shoulder to see what is behind you - a pretty natural reaction - is that you automatically drift right. In this case I happened to be in a very narrow section of bike path that had no shoulder and dropped immediately to the irrigation ditch. The next thing I knew my front tire was hooked over the edge of the road which immediately pitched the rear wheel up and over my head and threw me onto the road left elbow first, followed by the rest of my entire left side before I rolled down into the irrigation ditch with my bicycle.

So how can you possibly think this is lucky you might ask? Well I was certainly asking the same thing. I had too much blood around the elbow to see what was going on, but the bike was basically fine. I continued a couple miles back to Erica's house and grabbed some of my dirty clothes and jumped in the car to meet her at the vet clinic to get myself cleaned up. The assessment was that only a couple of the stitches in the middle had split open, but the opening was not very large. All of the stitches should now come out because they were foreign bodies in an open wound and it was time for them to come out anyway. After a bit of scrubbing and bandaging I had a sore and slightly swollen elbow, some pretty striking looking road rash on my left leg that reminded me why I go to the trouble of shaving my legs, and a growing hematoma that was growing on my upper left thigh.

It was about midnight by the time we turned in for bed following all the cleaning and bandaging, sorting out race gear just in case I felt better in the morning, and getting some dinner while trying to hide my bloody knuckles on my right hand that I forgot to mention and gave me the appearance of some type of brawler - or so I conjectured. I was feeling a bit glum when 5:00am rolled around and Erica got up to help the OSU Triathlon Club set up the race course and reported that it was pretty cold and wet outside. I decided that my best plan was to stay in bed for a couple more hours and then go support some of my friends who were racing.

My original start time was in the last heat (they do waves in the pool with 4 people to a lane in 8 lanes) and it was scheduled to start at 10:15, so a little before 9:00 I found myself awkwardly crawling out of bed. Erica called to see if I could pick up some breakfast on the way, so I got a bagel egg mitt sandwich for each of us at Noah's and two large lattes.

By the time I arrived at the Dixon Athletic Center on the OSU Campus it was around 9:30. The sun was coming out, the roads were getting dry, and for an April day in the Pacific Northwest, it was about the best weather you could possibly request. The weather combined with the excitement of the race was too much for me. I decided on the spot that I NEEDED to race.

I turned around and ran back to the car (bagel and latte sloshing), drove to Erica's house to pick up my bike and race gear. I called a friend to have him pick up my race packet and when I got back to campus I just threw my bike on the rack, put out my transition gear as fast as I could, pulled a neoprene sleeve over my elbow that was already covered by an impermeable bandage membrane the previous night in case I could race. Luckily the race was a few minutes behind so I got a couple warm-up laps in the dive pool, but before I knew it I found myself in my swim lane. I told my lane-mates that I had recently been in a bike crash and did not know how I could swim, so they should feel free to tap my foot in the water and I would stop on the wall for them to pass.

When the race started I just tried to relax since I had no idea how my body would respond. I felt smooth and seemed to be keeping up with the swimmers on either side of me. After about 200 yards the guy behind me tapped my foot. I stopped on the wall and just tucked right into his draft because I felt good and strong. I was amazed to get out of the pool and find myself only 2 seconds behind my goal time of 6:06 despite not having swum in over two weeks.

On the bike I felt stiff but had decent power and moved myself into first place….at least I thought I did. As I approached the turn-around some guy went flying in the other direction and I knew I had no shot. Since I didn't know how my leg would feel and I had not been able to run much at all this year, I was just happy to keep up my effort as long as I could. I ended up getting off the bike in second place and held on for a run that was quite labored and well below my potential….but completely invigorating because I was doing it! Having had to miss the Beaver Freezer the previous year due to the car-accident related injury, mentally it was a huge boost for me to just be able to race. The fact that I ended up in 4th place overall was nice, but certainly not the highlight of the day.

The race featured well over 300 people and probably close to 50% were doing their first triathlon just as I did in 1999. The excitement and energy that surrounds an event like that is hard to match, and I was happy to be a part of it. Now I will just be happy if I can stay injury free and start building some strength for the long road ahead.