Thursday, March 22, 2012

When I Fall, I Fall Hard

That title isn't some woe is me, emo love struck reference.  I'm currently typing with a wounded paw, elbow, hip, and knee.  Owie.

I never claimed to be graceful.  I'm quite clumsy, to be honest.  But this is something I know about myself, therefore I usually go out of my way to make sure I don't accidentally cause myself bodily harm.  Take running at night, for instance.  I stay away from the bike trails at night, because, hello, nowhere in my training plan does it call for a tempo run interrupted by a raping and dumping of my body in the middle of the Big Sioux River.  And if it does.... I'm firing whoever creates my training programs!  (Jokes, because I create my own, hey-o).

I have a few various mileage loops in a very safe neighborhood of town.  The only drawback is it is a fairly new part of town, and there are very few streetlights.  I've combatted this issue by running in the road.  Not only is this area of town safe, but there are very few cars.  And when there are vehicles, they're usually driving down the middle of the road because there aren't any others.  They're usually really good about moving way over to give me space.  Like I'm going to dart out at their vehicles while they're passing me or something.

Anyway, in the midst of my tempo miles tonight I was running along on the road, and hopped up on the sidewalk for the remainder of the block before I made a turn to the north.  Not really relevant to tell you which direction I was going to be heading, I just like to show off that I'm not directionally challenged.  Before I know it I'm somersaulting through the air and land in the grass (??) on my left hip and knee and casually hit my garmin "pause" button and say, "ouuuuuuuuuch" while looking around to see if anyone was witness to that delightful tumble through the air.  I assess the situation, minor blood, no real pain, and get back to that 8 minute pace I was knocking out.

But tumbles like that always scare the crap out of me.  Good reminder that I need to wear my Road ID all the time (I'm religious about it when I'm cycling, but running...not so much).  Or else need to resort to wearing my bike helmet for protection.  ;)

At least I got a good run out of it.... 8 miles; 2 mile warm up, 3 miles tempo 8:11, 7:58, 7:57, .5 mile recovery, 4x800 (200 jog recovery) 7:36, 7:45 paces, and a cool down as it started to rain.

9 comments:

kimi said...

street cred!

B. Kramer said...

Running: the new contact sport. Heal up fast. Cheers!

The Triathlon Rx said...

Owwch!! Hopefully that was your first fall since that one on the way to Lake Harriet. ;) I LOVE those Kinvara btw.

The Triathlon Rx said...

Kinvara(s)? Grammar escapes me without caffeine in the morning.

Katie said...

time for the running helmet.

Evolving Through Running said...

Definitely need to wear your bike helmet when running. All the cool kids are doing it.

I haven't taken a spill while running in a long time. On the bike .... whole different story. I'm a menace on two wheels. Just too much fun to go REALLY fast.

Bob said...

I love that the first thing you did was pause your Garmin!

Allison said...

Glad you're okay! And remember that road ID if you're running without a helmet.

Susan said...

I have scars on my left knee from when I took a dive on a trail run. Modeling career is over.

Also, glad you fall more than just when you're running with me! Let me know if you need some wound care.