Ouch happened about 1.75 miles or so into the run when I crossed the street and as I stepped onto the sidewalk I stepped into a wire loop on the sidewalk. It tripped me up and I fell, cursing, mostly onto my knees but also, apparently, grazing my right elbow and the heel of my right hand on the sidewalk.
I sat there for a few moments (stopping my Garmin) then checked out my injuries. I was wearing shorts so no clothing was damaged. (Luckily?) Both knees were scraped and bloody. It was hard to tell how badly they were cut up because of the blood. I didn't notice my elbow until much later, when I was undressing to take a shower, and my palm was just a little skinned, not badly at all.
I took the wire loop off my foot and tossed it to the side, hopefully out of the way of anyone else.
I stood up and assessed the situation. My knees didn't hurt (yet) but there was some blood running and I thought I needed to clean it up (and prevent further gushing) somehow.
It actually took me a minute to process that Hagen's grocery store was only a short distance away and there I could buy bandaids and clean myself up in the bathroom. I walked across the street then jogged the quarter mile to the store. (It did occur to me that this was adding a little mileage, which would come in handy later on.)
I bought some GIANT bandaids and washed the blood off my knees before sticking on the bandaids. I might add that the "not hurting" ended as soon as I applied water to my scrapes. From then on they stung until the endorphins from running drove the pain away.
I can't deny that I entertained thoughts of quitting or shortening my run. If I just headed back to Rod's I could make it a four mile run...if I went the opposite direction to my parents' it would probably be about six miles and I could get a ride back to town.
But since I wasn't REALLY hurt and I was still capable of running, I couldn't quite bring myself to abandon my plans. My route would still allow me to cut it short if I needed to, and plus, I had promised myself a mocha at Starbucks at the end of 10+ miles. I really didn't want to forgo that!
When I had started, the weather was very cloudy but mild, probably in the 50's. As I ran along it stayed mild but began to drizzle. At first it was very light, didn't disturb me at all. As I went along, though, the drizzle got heavier and heavier, until at times it was genuine rain, though still fine enough that I didn't feel poured on. Of course I was getting wetter and wetter. I was wearing a running cap and a long-sleeved Lucy shirt. It occurs to me now that my glasses never got really wet, so clearly it was not a heavy rain!
Somehow, despite the rain and my injured knees, I was maintaining a pretty decent pace for a long run. I even felt strong on the long hills that I had to run up. By the second half of the run (before that, actually) I had moved into the 9:30ish neighborhood. The first five miles were slower but still showed a nice progression.
1 - 10:00
2 - 10:02 pace (slightly shy of a mile, this included my fall and of course I stopped my watch when I went into Hagens).
3 - 9:52
4 - 9:42
5 - 9:50
Either mile 6 or 7 included a LONG hill. (Up.)
6 - 9:34
7 - 9:34
After that I did get to go back downhill. :) I was at the point in my route where I had to figure out where to go so that I reached my end destination (Safeway) at about 12 miles, neither too much more or less. Originally I thought I would need to do 1.5 trips around the Jennings Park loop (then to Safeway), but I was far enough around that I thought I could cut it a little shorter.
So I did one full rotation then headed back (repeating one side of the loop). In the last couple miles I pushed myself to pick up the pace, as much just to get done quicker as anything!
8 - 9:31
9 - 9:37
10 - 9:33
11 - 9:20
12 - 9:08
Last .3 mile to Safeway - 9:16 pace
(TOTAL 12.3 miles, 9:38 average pace)
Before I left Rod had mentioned that he had some Progresso soup he could heat for lunch. I probably made a little face.... It's not that I don't like soup; of course it is great on a gloomy day and in many ways it is an ideal post-run food. It has both sodium and water, after all. (That sounds like more of a beverage though.) It's just that a nice bowl of soup isn't much to look forward to after a long run!
But I figured with some bread to chew on and maybe some beans to bulk it up I could handle the soup. But I got an email from Rod suggesting I get some stuff at the store and he would make a heartier lunch. Okay!
Then I got a message from my mom asking if I needed a ride. Well, I was soaking wet and about to buy groceries to carry 3/4 mile! I called her and we arranged that she would meet me at Safeway and give me a ride to Rod's. I promised her a mocha in payment.
Since I didn't have to walk, I felt free to load up my basket and got plenty of good food and a couple of other things besides. (Including a Luna bar that I split with my mother. I needed food. Now.)
A while later, a hot shower had never felt so good. I re-bandaged all my scrapes with some Neosporin. (My mother has already expressed concerns about Mersa and also asked if I have had a tetanus shot lately. She doesn't know how common road rash is in the running world! But I may consider a tetanus shot. I'm not to worried about infection but I'll keep using Neosporin.) I also took some Advil. Now, hours later, I do feel a little achy but don't know if it's from the fall or just running... maybe both.
Rod made a lovely lunch (it was mid-afternoon by the time we ate) but now, around 7:30, I'm thinking it's time for dinner. I'm thinking a sweet potato, sauteed spinach, leftover broccoli and cauliflower, plus a small piece of leftover salmon.
Tomorrow is the first day of summer. I am praying that at least it DOESN'T RAIN!!! Anti-rain dance, anyone?
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1 comment:
what a great distance! good job :)
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