Hey guys, happy Wednesday! I hope you are having a great week. I’m just trying to make it through the week and then I am on vacation for 2 glorious weeks!! More on that in a later post. I had a new running first yesterday and figured I would share it with you, because why not get a laugh at my expense, right? 
So, yesterday I started my usual morning run and it was super humid, nothing too uncommon these days. About 1/2 mile into my run it started raining, it wasn’t too hard and it actually felt pretty nice, so I didn’t think much of it, I just set off on my usual route. When I hit my turn around spot, it got pretty dark out, but I was still going about my business. I took a quick water break and two creepy guys a few feet away asked me how long I had run, commented they liked my outfit (huh?) and told me I looked like my hard working running was paying off because I looked great. Now, I don’t normally like to make quick judgments about people, and maybe they truly were trying to be nice by paying me compliments, but they totally creeped me out the way they were looking at me. I try not to be rude to people, especially when I am outnumbered by two much bigger men, so I just smiled, said thank you and booked it in the other direction. That was just the beginning of my running firsts.
A few minutes later I looked out to where my work buildings were and a HUGE bolt of lightning struck down. Running first number two. I normally love thunder and lightning storms…you know, when I am safe inside my home watching them. Being outdoors, running and exposed while they are happening all around me…not so much. I started to panic. I was still about 2 miles from work. Did I run into a building? Try to wait the storm out? What if it lasted a long time? I had an early morning meeting I had to be at and there were a lot of commuters out walking to work, so I decided to try to get back as quick as possible. About 1/3 of a mile away I run over a long bridge and have to take a very tight left turn to start back to work. The ground was already slick because of all the rain and I was being careful on the bridge, but when I came around, I was probably going a bit too fast and I wiped out. Running first number three.
I have been running almost 5.5 years now and have never fallen before. I pride myself on having fast reflexes and great balance but I had no hope. I went down hard and immediately felt the road burn. I reacted quickly and popped right back up and thankfully, I don’t think anyone saw me. It all happened so fast that I don’t think I really processed it as adrenaline was pumping through me and my only thought was, just get back to work and safety as soon as possible. As soon as I got to our building, I stopped my Garmin…you know, priorities people
That’s when I also noticed, that my phone was smashed up. Running first number 4. When I fell, I was holding my phone in the hand I used to reach out to stop myself, which lead to a cracked screen and outer corner. Awesome! I cleaned myself up a bit before taking these pictures so it didn’t look like a gruesome scene but I was pretty banged up and had road rash all the way up my thigh.
I’m happy to say that the rest of my day got significantly better. I am still pretty sore today and my skin still burns but I have no doubt each day will get a little bit better and really, it could have always been worse, right? I usually love most of my running experiences, but this is definitely not something I want to repeat. I can now say that I have fallen during a run, run in lightning and encountered creepy men while out running. I guess maybe it was best that I had so many bad running firsts in one experience? Does the mean they are all done? Wishful thinking?
Have a great rest of your day!!
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Question of the day
Have you ever fallen while running? Ran in a lightning storm? Broken your phone while exercising?
