I started out Saturday morning, May 31st to run a much anticipated mountain trail run. The idea was to get in a good 10 miler before the heavens opened up with the forecasted thunderstorms. As any self-respecting Boy Scout would do, I brought along my micropack on my back with a rain shell, a cell phone and a few other emergency things packed away since I would be in a remote area. It felt great to be out in the woods where clearly no one else had been recently based on the lack of tracks or wear on the path, surrounding grasses and rocks. While running I love to noodle on problems at work, challenges with my Scout troop, or things that need work around the house (they never end). I also tend to think about what I should write in my blog about my most recent running experience.
As I careened down a rather steep trail, nearly out of control, I was thinking how much I dislike running on trails that are covered with leaves because you never know what is beneath them... could be a hole, could be a rock, could be a bear (not!). Going so fast I was also thinking that this is exactly what we Scouters (adult Scout leaders) teach our Scouts NOT to do because of the danger of falling and getting hurt. It was at this moment that I had decided I would write in my blog about that feeling so that when my Scouts read my blog they would hear me say it one more time. It was also at this exact moment that the unthinkable happened... I went to scuff my foot through a pile of leaves before me and it turned out to be a very well set rock under a thin coating of leaves. My foot stopped dead in its place and I took a header, tumbling down the trail. When I sat up, had the cuts on my elbow and nice egg on my knee cap not hurt so much I'd have chuckled at the irony of it all! I sat for a minute or two to make sure nothing was badly injured. I had some nice scrapes on my hands and elbow, my kneecap was swollen, I had a nice rasberry on my hip, my shirt was covered with dirt, and leaves were stuffed in my shirt sleeves and jammed between my shirt and pack. All in all, a rather impressive fall :-) I got up and continued to walk then jog down the trail and 1/4 mile later I realized I was not on the right trail! I turned around and ran back up about 1/3 mile, past where I fell to the wrong turn I took. Running uphill actually releaxed me, stretched me out and made me feel much better. I had to chuckle again at the thought that had I not taken a wrong turn (you'd think a Scoutmaster could follow trail markers better), I'd have never come upon that steep, leafy, dangerous place where I took such a nice fall.
The rest of my run was much less eventful. I had planned on running 2 loops around the trails to get to 10 miles but by the time I got back to my car, the egg on my kneecap was starting to hurt and I decided I was time to call it a day. After all I did have a race Sunday where I had 400+ flyers stuffed in the race packets calling everyone's attention to me running in my shirt.
I think I shall take a break from running at Sleeping Giant State Park. The last two times I ran there, I rolled my ankle badly and took a header. I'm in the important season of my training and can't afford any injuries that take me out of my routine.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment