The Life and Times of Sam Luna

I hope every body had a Merry Christmas! My training has been suspended. On my first group ride out at Katy Mills in over two months I was taken out by a fixed gear rider with a flat. I broke my left collar bone. It will be 4-6 weeks before it heals and 2-3 months for a complete heal. I will be seeing an orthopedic surgeon next Monday. I will not be able to race until late March or early April. So I will miss the entire spring series of collegiate triathlon and road races.

I have been running only for the past two months, and I am beginning to miss the bike. After the Houston Half-Marathon, I will be happy to get back into multisport training. Two weekends ago I decided to sign up and run the Jingle Bell Run. Only the top 20 runners receive an award, a Pearl Izumi printed running shirt, a highly coveted item that brings out Houston's fastest runners. I signed up for the race with my main intent being to place in the top 20 or just to jog it if I wasn't in striking distance. *Note Lengthy Race Description Follows* I had looked at the results for the race over the past 5 years and noted that the 20th time was usually somewhere between 29 mins and 29:45. I felt confident that I was prepared to break 30 mins and to set a new PR. At the race I noted that a top female from the UT XC team was running and that she would probably run around 29:45 for the 5 mile race. The gun sounded and the runners bolted. I ran hard to stay with the large pack putting me