fell down a hill….

Saturday morning, 4:30 AM and my eyes are open.  What’s wrong with this picture?   In the background, I hear the faint sound of the music from the alarm.  Grudgingly my feet hit the floor and I am semi-vertical.  To avoid the extreme Texas heat, our weekly running group meets at 5:45 AM for a 6:00 AM run.  We have to be in the car before 5:00 AM to arrive on time.

Pulling on my running clothes and grabbing a bagel for breakfast, my husband and I made it out the door and were on the road by 4:50 AM.  For some reason, I just didn’t feel like showing up, but shrugged it off.  I mean after all who would want to get up at 4:45 AM on their day off to go for a long run!

Driving through Manor, TX at 5:00 AM, the last thing either of us wanted to see were flashing red and blue lights.  A very nice man in uniform introduced himself as a county sheriff, and informed us our right headlight was out.  With a warning ticket in hand, I asked Ron if he was sure he didn’t just want to go back home and go to bed.  He just grinned at me and pulled back into traffic.

We actually made it on time and headed for a quick bio break at the restrooms provided by our running group.  As we walked toward them we were warned, someone had forgotten to lock them the prior night and they were so soiled they were virtually unusable.  Great!

Undeterred, we each found our running mates and lined up in the pre-dawn muggy heat, ready to do a 6 mile run.  I was scheduled for 14 miles for the day, so I was looking forward to an extra 8 miles after the group run.

We all synchronized our watches and set off, settling into an easy rhythm.  The first few miles went by pretty fast although there were a lot of uphills.  I told my coach I was ready for some downhills.  Pretty soon, every downhill someone would call out, “Here’s a downhill for Deanna!”  Around mile 4, we turned down a particularly hilly road where the slopes were quite a bit steeper.  I was enjoying an especially steep downhill, feeling like I was riding a Radio Flyer red wagon.  My right shoe hit a patch of gravel and suddenly I knew I was going down.  I’ve run a lot of years and have never fallen, but it was happening!

My right hand hit the asphalt first followed by my elbow, hip and knee.  As I slid a few feet down the hill, I managed to avoid hitting my head or tumbling head over heels.  Completely mortified, I tried to jump up as blood dripped from my right palm and elbow.  Everyone gathered round and offered assistance as they returned my possessions.  Some one had my phone, another runner had found my Jawbone and someone else returned my water.  Everything had flown along with me and been scattered when I hit the pavement.

After the shock wore off, I walked a few blocks and decided I was not significantly injured and finished my run.  I actually caught back up with part of my group and finished.

This afternoon I still had swelling and bruising from my wrist to my elbow, so I ducked into an urgent care center for x-rays and a tetanus shot.  Good news – nothing is broken, only sprained.  The only down side is a splint and a late blog post.

Not too bad after all!