Rising from the dead and M1 Garand Toys.

[usabaker]

Well, it has been one heck of recovery for me. On November 6, 2021, I entered a 5K charity race. I made the bad mistake of deciding to run in the 2nd heat and at mid-pack. A about the 1/4 mile (0.4 K) into the race, I decided to break into a full sprint to pass a large pack of runners that were, in my opinion, running much too slow. Well, I just happened to pick a spot to do this on packed dirt. Just about the time I had attained my maximum forward velocity, I stepped on a rock that slipped, causing me to lose my footing and to find out if my body was more robust than the ground. As if in slow motion, I went crashing toward the ground. I twisted sideways and slammed into the earth to keep from face planting into the earth. I thought I hit on my shoulder, and then the momentum of my body flailing across the ground sent my legs forward out in front of me, sliding and grinding off the skin on the right side of my leg.

All I could hear was the “Ohhh” and “are you okay?” of the runners witnessing my fall from grace. I got up nearly as fast as I went down and stated, “Yes, I’m okay,” and continued on my way, not at a fast pace but one that could get me away from the runners that witnessed my embarrassing fall. I felt a lot of pain but just chucked it up to a bad fall and eventually brought my pack back up to around a 9-minute mile pace, give or take. Last ¼ mile, I sprinted to the finish.

Once the adrenalin of the race was over and while I was gasping for air after passing the finish line is when I felt everything….. I felt like I would pass out and quickly found a place to sit down. I knew that I had placed and decided to bear the pain hang around until the awards. I placed 2nd in my division, taking the silver. The guy who took first beat me by a mere 1 minute and 57 seconds, which means had I not taken that fall, there was a good chance he and I would have battled it out at the finish line for first. I finished in the 5K in 27 minutes and 57 seconds, 94th out of 278 runners.

With medal in hand, I drove to the hospital, where I found out that I had my right clavicle and it would take seven weeks to heal.

Seven weeks put me to exactly December 24, Christmas Eve. Doctors orders were no activities, I asked if I could run, and he said no running until it was fully healed. All of my kids and their families were coming for Christmas, except my daughter, who is in the Army, and that was exciting for me. I was also excited to run again and had planned to take a short run after all of the family had left on the 26th.

Well, all of my kids and their families showed up at the house on December 22, everything was going great, and then on Christmas eve, one of my sons broke out into a fever and took ill. A rapid test showed that he was positive for COVID-19. By the evening of the 25th, I was feeling ill, and on the 26th, I went down hard. I tested, and it was positive for COVID-19, as were all adults and most kids.

Yesterday was my last day of the quarantine, and while I have not recovered enough to run, I have a residual cough and fatigue. Nevertheless, I was able to get to visit the swap meet.
A vendor was selling an M1 Garand “Rifle Platoon” toy rifle; I had just bought a Mini Lathe and a 2 Axis work table. So I knew my financial manager, aka wife, would have no part of me spending another 100 dollars on this toy rifle, so I admired it for a while and went on my way. I did get the guy's business card so that if any of you wanted it, you could contact him, but I seemed to have misplaced it.

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