Horizontal on the pavement

Led the usual Thursday group on a route of my choice. We usually take turns to choose the route. A bit of an up and down route, with two long hills. A bit like running around the 15k Lake Gardens route in KL. Except that the area around Lake Gardens are far more pleasant than this route which goes through some less salubrious areas of Sheffield. Perhaps not a good way to go if you are a slow runner on your own. Not from the threat of violence of course, more from the shouting and abuse you might get from youngsters.

Anyway, went over the first hill, downhill for a bit, and then started on the second long hill. Nice evening, not too cold, no breeze, and more importantly my knee was fine. Despite regrouping every now and then, gaps were beginning to open up by now. Having reached the top of the second (and final) hill in the front, I turned back down the hill to meet up with the tailenders. They were a long way behind. The rest just continued on their way while I finally met the last two people and ran with them up the hill again.

Going along at a nice easy pace and chatting about the likes of Bekele losing a recent indoor 3000m race because he miscounted the laps. Next moment I realised I was heading for the pavement. It's those moments when things happen so quickly that there is no thinking involved, just instinct. In a flash it was over. I must have slid a little bit along my chest, face down but my hands did not touch the pavement too much. Not even the smallest scrape on my chin. Quickly got back up and felt sore on the bottom end of my left palm and right elbow. Checked other places for damage. Perhaps a bit of skin loss on the right knee (thanks to the tights) and a little nick on my right palm. Luckily nothing serious. Looks like I tripped over a big piece of stone (probably about 40cm x 20cm x 20cm) which had fallen off the side wall onto the middle of the pavement. The two other guys moved the stone out of the way and asked how I was.

Well I was good enough to resume running whilst going through the checklist that one makes after falling down to estimate the damage, a bit like an insurance estimator. Looks like no major damage but will hurt quite a bit in the shower. Damn!! What's the funniest thing about it? Apparently the group ahead saw the rock and avoided it while making a comment that someone could really trip over it. Why didn't they stop and move it? Maybe they thought that no one would be clumsy enough. It was a wonderful run though if it wasn't for the accident.

One piece of advice. If you are falling down, a natural reaction is to stick the hands out. However, this may be a bad idea if speeds involved are high because you could damage your wrists or break you arm. On the other hand, if your shoulder hits the ground hard enough, you might break your collarbone (scapula). Many cyclists get this injury but I haven't heard of a runner doing it to himself. Injuries caused by scraping along the ground are usually not very deep but look a lot worse than they really are due to the area. And yes, it does sting like hell in the shower...

Location 53°N 1°W