So I took last night off from running so I’d be a little more rested for a good long run this morning. I was up on time (a little earlier actually, due to the full moon shining right in my face), through the requisite GI wake period and out the door by 5:45, anticipating a run of about 3 hours.
About 10 minutes into the run, I was on Kinne Rd, crossing Erie Blvd. A car was making a right turn on to Erie from Kinne and got to the little turning lane right as I was just about across Erie. I intended to run up over the little raised island that forms the turning lane, like I’d done about a thousand times previously.
At 5:55 am, its still pretty dark. I’ve also notice recently, that my eyes are pretty much shot in low light applications these days. As I was closing in the last step or two before the curb around the island, the car’s headlights dipped and I lost site of the curb. I landed my left foot on top of the island, and caught the toes on my right foot on the lip of the curb. This resulting in a spectacular Superman maneuver with me landing on my left knee, left palm, right elbow, and right hip in nice bed of gravel and sand. Well, landing probably isn’t the right term; sliding is probably more accurate.
I quickly got up and shook out some cobwebs. The car stopped for a second, but kept on going when they saw I was back on my feet again. No worries, he wasn’t at fault anyway. I tried to brush the dirt and rocks out of the abrasions the best I could in the dark. I couldn’t tell how bad the scrapes were, but nothing hurt real bad, so I kept going.
The first street light I encountered was at the corner of Kinne Rd and Butternut St. I stopped for a second and pulled some of the rocks out of the cuts in my palm. Hmm, the knee and elbow looked kinda angry but didn’t hurt all that much. Do I stop and return to home base as an sensible person would? Of course not, I’m far too stupid to stop.
I trudged my way along the canal trail, up through the back trails at Green Lakes, and then down through the park. After not seeing a soul along the way, I kinda forgot that I was probably a bloody mess. Didn’t see many people in the lower half of the park and was soon enough back on the canal trail heading home. I passed maybe 10 runners and didn’t seem to get any weird stares, maybe its all in my head.
Eventually, I made it back to the house. Wow, I really was a bloody mess. The wounds on knee and elbow had nice red streaks below them. I gave the wife a quick update that she’s not the only klutz and the low down on the incident and headed to the shower to start cleaning up. I spent about 10 minutes doing some pre-cleaning action all the trouble spots and getting out what foreign matter I could, wincing the whole time.
I then stood there for 10 minutes trying to get the courage to get into the shower. I considered waiting a while for things to scab up again, but realized, I’d only be trying to get junk out again later. So, turned on the water, bit my lip, and dove in. The first 2 minutes were fine. Then I got some soap on one of the open areas, ow. Then I really bit my lip and started to scrub out the cuts with the shower scrubber. Tear inducing.
So, a few hours later, I’m sitting around sharing this fun tail with all of the blogosphere while I’m still oozing blood every now and again. I just realized that my arm rest is a complete mess.
How was your run today?
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