The Bird is the Word

In a feat of unparalleled human endurance only disclosed to me today, it appears I ran the entire Stormy 50-miler... with a broken finger!

That tiny scuff on the film next to the giant arrow is a fracture.
While I was seeing the doctor today about my arthritic hip, I got him to look at my right middle finger which I injured a week ago while vacationing with my family in the Okanagan.

Yes, I hurt it a week ago, but in a feat of unparalleled human endurance, I sucked it up and ran the Stormy 50-miler on Sunday. I know it’s hard to believe but I ran that entire way, as Ellie Greenwood so eloquently put it on my Facebook page earlier today, “with only 19 fully-functioning digits.”

Hockey fans, particularly those true gluttons for punishment who call themselves fans of the Toronto Maple Leafs, will see the similarities between my Stormy run and the heroic effort of Bobby Baun, who scored the winning goal in overtime in Game 6 of the 1964 Stanley Cup finals on a broken ankle. Sure, Baun’s goal tied the series allowing Toronto to go on the win the 1964 Cup, while I only finished fourth, an hour behind the winners at Stormy, but I’d like to see Baun run fifty miles with a broken finger!

The doctor calls it a mallet fracture. No, it doesn’t hurt, but it did. Like a mutherflunker! Now though, it’s swollen, a bit weak and I can’t straighten the tip, so the doctor has me in a splint for the next three weeks. Talk about human endurance! Try typing this inanity with a piece of foam-lined aluminum taped to your middle finger. No, it’s not easy. I’d like to see Bobby Baun do that!

It’s not a total drag. The splint nicely accentuates the bird I frequently flip motorists who cut me off while running so I may keep it around after the bone heals. Maybe I’ll even decorate it and add reflective tape for using in the winter when those careless drivers really need someone to remind them they’re number one.