It was brought to my attention that I never blogged about my belly flop onto the cement and in all reality, it really is a good story if you forget the pain part of it.Last Friday I woke up and decided to do a little prayer run at home where I could run and read my morning prayer, intentions, and readings from Give Us This Day. My goal was to run a 5K for the day but thought why not split it up and do some at home and spend some time with God. In hindsight I am glad I did. Just like a run you never regret, I never regret taking the time to pray especially when it is combined with my other passion --- running.
Fast forward a couple of hours and some time at work going through emails and multiple "yelling" emails that I was cc'd on, didn't want to read, but knew I must just in case I had to chime in. Thankfully I didn't but it still left me feeling deflated and ready for a morning coffee break run to burn off some steam.
I headed out and opted to run a slightly different course than usual but I was still on my normal running pathways. Just going through them differently to keep things fresh. I was listening to Immaculate Heart Radio and the Patrick Madrid show and loving the time running with faith-based conversation on things happening today in the world. For the life of me I cannot tell you what the topic of conversation was but it had me engaged even if my mind was also focused on the roads.
I was running a bit later than usual for this trek and there were a lot of cars on the road. I was watching them and running along sidewalks for the vast majority of my run. I began to head back on a sidewalk that led straight to my starting point and one of my favorite running detours that easily tacks on an extra mile with less traffic to keep an eye on. Plus it tends to have lots of foot traffic and smiles of motivation. I never made it there. I never made it to the etchy part of the road ahead with little to no shoulder and no sidewalk. Before I knew it I was on the ground slightly confused.
Before I even took stock of things I looked at the GPS app on my phone as I was curious if I ran a continuous mile. Nope, 0.91 miles and yes, I paused my run. I was bummed since my fall broke up the mile and I thought if I got up real quick and kept running maybe it would still count. This is all my sense of how my running streak mile should be. All this went though my mind in a nano second while almost simultaneously my mind was processing that I felt impact pretty much uniformly across my body on my knee, arm, chest, and then my chin hit the ground.
I slowly pushed myself up into a kneeling position and saw/heard a lady asking me if I was okay. I told her yes and stayed kneeling looking down for a second or two until I pushed myself up and stood up while accessing myself further. I was shaky but all felt good...well as good as it could be. My head felt fine even if my chin ached but I was noticing the bloody knee, hand, and arm and yes, so was the lady who was now at my side.
She only caught the tail end of my fall but was very concerned. I told her I was fine and thankful that she was there and that I landed with the impact pretty much uniform across my body. She checked over my wounds and kept chatting with me. She was from Oregon and had a fall story to share too. In all reality, I think she had medical training and was ensuring I was okay to be left out of her sight. I assured her I was close to my start and had medical help there in the form of a First Aid kit and co-workers. Once I noticed the swelling on my arm I suggested I run off and get some ice on it. It was getting big fast and she agreed to let me run on and I did...just to complete that mile because it had already came to my mind. I am not sure she realized I was literally going to run off. And in this time I realized I already ran a continuous mile on the treadmill at home. 1.1 miles to be exact. My immediate concern was null and void.
After the 1 mile was done I still had some walking to do and texted my supervisor and best bud and let her know I wiped out and was a bloody mess on my quick run. She texted back concern and minutes later called to ensure it wasn't the April Fool's prank her hubby asked I could be doing. She felt no way I would do that and had to check. I laughed saying no way would I even think of doing that!
Fast forward a week and I am still hurting. I had band aids on for as long as I could but you see, I am sensitive to the adhesives and started getting an itchy rash. I did wraps until they began to move and rub too much and caused more damage than good so now the main wounds on my arm and leg are exposed to the air and ache (and itch) almost non-stop but the ache does subside during running. Thank you God!
I am also thankful that I wasn't injured worse. If I landed differently a broken bone could have happened. Just ask my younger sister who decided to fly out of a golf cart on the same day and now has a broken my arm that required surgery. My mom was a bit worried about us and wondered if we had an unhealthy competition going on about who could get hurt worse. Go figure my lil sis would try to out beat me!
I am also very thankful and believe God caught my fall. I felt my body hit the ground before I realized my toe must have hit a bump in the sidewalk. I have reflected on this and can only think both feet must have been off the ground at the time of the toe bump for me to fly the way I did. I landed half on the sidewalk with my left arm and head in the road along with part of my body. Ironically, all the traffic flow was quiet at the time of my fall. There are so many areas where things could have gone wrong but they didn't.
My healing may be slower than my marathon recovery time but I am still thankful but perhaps a bit edgy and grouchy after hurting non-stop all day for days at end. But I am healing and can run even if I am not hitting my long run distance just yet...but I will. For that I am forever thankful.
Daily Gratitude: I am thankful for God's protection, my guardian angel, and the kind lady from Oregon.
Daily Bible Verse: The LORD will keep you from all harm --- he will watch over your life. ~ Psalm 121:7
