It's a chubby runner flying through the air after tripping on a jagged piece of sidewalk, her arms flailing and her face and knee falling into more jagged pieces of sidewalk!
Ouch.
Today was the Strider's Longest Long Run, the last long run before the full and half marathon. I was up and out there at 6am, ready to put in my 13.1 miles. And brrr! It was cold.
June, Bill and I started off and we stuck together for the first 8 miles, averaging a 12:30 pace. I was struggling, and then at mile 7 I realized why: I gave blood Thursday afternoon. Running 13 miles at a good speed (for me) probably wasn't the smartest thing.
At mile 8, I let them run on ahead, since I was turning around at mile 9.5 anyway. A few minutes after they left, I started on as well (I was chilling at a water station).
After passing Starbucks, I saw a creepy man. Unfortunately, I then became immersed in thoughts and wasn't paying attention. Right after passing the creepy man (I was thinking about my pepper spray), I stumbled upon a very bad sidewalk on Montrose (past Hawthorne). Then I really did stumble. No, calling it a stumble is an understatement.
At mile 9, I flew through the air. Ironically, I tripped about a mile before, but managed to catch myself. This time, I was not so lucky.
So my right toe got caught in the jagged edges and as I flew through the air, my thought was "Fuck, this landing is gonna hurt." Oh, and it did. I landed and slid on the rough concrete, wrist, knee and chin first. Sadly, I wondered first how bad my face looked, before the pain of my knee kicked in. I immediately called mom, but couldn't talk (thus freaking her out). Barb, Steeeve's wife, was jogging by and she took the phone from me to talk to my mom. My hands hurt and my knee hurt so bad that I was crying. I was terrified to move it. I finally did when I saw the blood seeping through my pants (which didn't rip). I pulled the leg of my pants up and was greeted with a smiley face of gashes. One wasn't that bad, but I knew that I needed stitches (AH!) on the other one. I finally moved a few minutes later.
Luckily, some woman saw me fall and she drove over and sat with me until my mom came, and a lady who lived across the street came over to me too, so I was never alone. She helped me over to her car where I stood and leaned. Then I got woosey and naseaous and slid to the ground and shivered until my mom came (I was wearing sweaty clothes and it was freezing!).
Finally Mom came (about the time one of the ladies acquired a hot tea for me!). We drove to her hospital, which is fantastic. The ladies wanted to call an ambulance, but I wouldn't let them - I knew I would hate waiting in a busy ER. Mom's hospital is a surgical hospital, but by law they have to have an ER. No one ever goes to their ER, so I was the only patient.
The doctor loaded me up on very strong Motrin, the nurse took my blood pressure three times because it was freakishly low (70/40) and my pulse three times because it was also freakishly low (45) and I shivered. Wow! Sitting in the cold in sweaty clothes for 30 minutes was borderline torture! And let's not even discuss the pain of cleaning out the gashes.
The verdict: who knows. I managed to talk the doctor out of ordering x-rays for me (I hate my insurance). He said that the treatment would be the same for the first week anyway, so I'm heavily bandaged and I'm not allowed to move it or bend it for a week. It's my right knee, which means no driving! The other good news - he just put steri-strips on my knee to close the gashes - no stitches for me (I can live with the scarring)! I'm too keep an eye on my knee and if it gets worse or not much better, then they'll do x-rays on me.
Basically, I think I'm out of the running (punny!) for the half-marathon. It's three weeks away and I'll be out of running for 1-2 weeks, and I don't know how comfortable I'd feel attempting to jog it. So I might walk the half-marathon instead. No running for me until I'm sure my knee is not cracked.
In other pains and aches: my left shoulder is sporting a very large bruise, my palms are raw with tiny blood blisters under them, my left knee is slightly bruised, my chin is scraped only minimally (thank God) and my right knee is a bit f***ed up. I have a tiny bruise on my right wrist from jamming the top of my hand into my Garmin when I fell and my arms hurt for some odd reason (maybe the impact).
Onto happier stuff: Yay! June and Vic finished their 21 miles! I heard Bill's knee was bother him (poor him). Overall, I hope everyone who ran had a good and safe time.
Now, since I'm couch-bound, I'm going to get some reading done.
Cheers!
7 comments:
Ouch, I run in dread of a face plant on the sidewalk. Sorry to hear about your fall, but glad to read about how some good people came to your aid. We'll see you on the roads when you heal!
Oh man, oh man, oh man, that was a bad one. All of us more-experienced runners have face planted (I FP's at the Christmas Lights Run last year) but that was a bad one. Sooooo relieved you're OK, even good with blogging about it. The chain of events to get you looked after was good, I'm pleased with that. Not pleased with what you had to go through.
BTW, sez here you're going to be just fine for the half marathon, you were obviously running beautifully up to the fateful point.
Steeeve
Glad you're ok. I guess I'm due a face plant some time soon. Seems inevitable.
Sounds like you were running well up to that point so "good job" is in order. See you soon.
my dear dear friend erica..i was so SAD to get the call for numerous reasons...but i am thankful you are ok. thats all that matters.
i hope to see you next week since we are both OFF FROM WORK!!
OUCH! I fell at mile 2 of a 15-miler a couple years ago and was amazed that I didn't hurt myself other than a bleeding elbow -- sorry to hear you weren't so lucky. :( Get well soon!
Makes me hurt just reading about it. Hope you recover fast.
Ouch! Hope you're jogging again soon!
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