When Demetrius and I started running, I would always tell him, "It's dangerous to run on sidewalks. The road is safer, even though there are cars." I say it every time we are forced to run on sidewalks. Today, I had the opportunity to demonstrate why sidewalk running is hazardous to your health. Before you scroll down any more, I will warn you that you are about to see a graphic picture of my bloody knee. Feel free to pass on this post. But, it many ways it might be like a car accident: You just can't look away. It also is a graphic reminder of why running on sidewalks is not the best place for runners.
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The plan today was to run for 50 minutes, and then finish with speedwork. Seemed like an easy enough workout so I was looking forward to it, since I would be running with my favorite running partner. It was hard to decide where to run since we were starting at about 8:30am and the heat index was already 88. The greenway was a no-go because while it is shaded, there is absolutely NO breeze. I decided that we could start from Elm Street Park even though that would have us running near a few somewhat busy roads. Demetrius put on his 20 pound weight vest, did a short warmup, and we headed up the road toward Greenville Boulevard. While we chatted about the heat, I tripped over a seam in the pavement of the sidewalk. "Whew! Quick recovery. That could have been embarrassing!" I took about 100 more steps and I tripped again. This time I was unable to make a smooth recovery. Before I knew it, I was getting closer and closer to the ground. In that moment I could hear a car passing us at the same moment. "I hope no one is witnessing this!" The ground got closer. "This is what I mean when I tell people running on sidewalks is dangerous." Now I'm on the ground. I fell to my hands and knees. My left leg took the brunt of the fall. I quickly rolled to my back and laid on the ground with my knees bent. I started to laugh a little because I was embarrassed and fighting back tears. I closed my eyes as I did a quick assessment of what hurt.
"Am I bleeding?"
"Uhh, yeah, your knees are bleeding,
"How bad is it?"
"It looks pretty bad. I think our run is over."
"No it's not. We can keep going." I raised my arm over my head to pause my Garmin.
"No, Jamie. I'm pretty sure we need to get you cleaned up and resting."
In my head I knew it was the smart thing to do. Several thoughts passed through my head as I considered what to do.
1. But I am training for Ironman
2. This is a really important workout for the training plan this week
3. I woke up early to do this
4. Demetrius just got off working a 12 hour shift and I don't want to waste his time
5. I'm a badass, I can keep going
6. I don't have time for an injury
7. It's probably not that bad
8. I will NOT quit after running only .15 miles.
9. Is that blood running down my leg, or sweat?
10. Okay, how do I stand up because I cut my hands too...
Just then, a car pulled over quickly and a woman ran over to us. She asked if I was okay and told me that she is a runner and she got scared when she saw a runner laying on the sidewalk. I told her what happened and pointed to the spot on the sidewalk where I tripped. Demetrius went over to the school across the street to see if they had any first aid items we could use to clean up my leg. Blood was running into my sock at this point. The school workers said didn't have anything (which how is that possible??) so we went to the church to ask if they had anything. He came back with some paper towels and meanwhile the woman from the car gave me a bottle of water to start flushing out the dirt and debris. My leg kept bleeding, but I was like, "No, we can still try this run." A few minutes later, a man from the church came over with a first aid kit. I was able to clean the cut with a cleaning wipe and then put two large bandaids over the cut. I wasn't sure how long they would stick since I was sweating, but it was worth a shot.
"Am I bleeding?"
"Uhh, yeah, your knees are bleeding,
"How bad is it?"
"It looks pretty bad. I think our run is over."
"No it's not. We can keep going." I raised my arm over my head to pause my Garmin.
"No, Jamie. I'm pretty sure we need to get you cleaned up and resting."
In my head I knew it was the smart thing to do. Several thoughts passed through my head as I considered what to do.
1. But I am training for Ironman
2. This is a really important workout for the training plan this week
3. I woke up early to do this
4. Demetrius just got off working a 12 hour shift and I don't want to waste his time
5. I'm a badass, I can keep going
6. I don't have time for an injury
7. It's probably not that bad
8. I will NOT quit after running only .15 miles.
9. Is that blood running down my leg, or sweat?
10. Okay, how do I stand up because I cut my hands too...
Just then, a car pulled over quickly and a woman ran over to us. She asked if I was okay and told me that she is a runner and she got scared when she saw a runner laying on the sidewalk. I told her what happened and pointed to the spot on the sidewalk where I tripped. Demetrius went over to the school across the street to see if they had any first aid items we could use to clean up my leg. Blood was running into my sock at this point. The school workers said didn't have anything (which how is that possible??) so we went to the church to ask if they had anything. He came back with some paper towels and meanwhile the woman from the car gave me a bottle of water to start flushing out the dirt and debris. My leg kept bleeding, but I was like, "No, we can still try this run." A few minutes later, a man from the church came over with a first aid kit. I was able to clean the cut with a cleaning wipe and then put two large bandaids over the cut. I wasn't sure how long they would stick since I was sweating, but it was worth a shot.
This was after cleaning it up in the parking lot after the run. After thanking everyone who helped me, Demetrius and I started on our run. I told him that we probably wouldn't be hitting 50 minutes OR the speedwork, but that I just wanted to see how far we could go, giving the pain I was in. After about 30 minutes, I took the bandaids off because they were about to fall off anyway. So there we were, running around town and my leg looked like someone shot me. The pain subsided a bit, so I decided that we could do the whole run. I wasn't giving up! We ended up finishing the 50 minute run AND the speedwork. Take that, sidewalk!
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