Weekend Trail Run: (Wo)Man down!

It was a pretty good little American Easter weekend.  I got a run in, a few fam/dog walks, and a sunburn from doing yard-work.

With two dogs and two toddlers, It’s never as peaceful as the photos make it seem.

For Easter we got together with the fams and some friends to hang out and eat food stuffs.  Pretty good times all around.

I think the chicken that laid these must’ve been ill.

Blowin Easter bubbles.

Another highlight was the 7.5 mile trail run.  I got up early Saturday to meet some friends at a park.  It was perfect weather – the kind where you are in short sleeved clothes but still have steam coming off you when you get all sweaty.  And even better, my little nagging calf injury thingy didn’t bother me at all!

There were lots of people in the park who were camping, biking, and even a few taking off in hot air balloons.

I don’t care what anyone says, those guys are full of hot air!

Funny thing happened on the run.  One of our friends fell down.  We can laugh because she didn’t get hurt…but then again, we’d probably laugh at her anyway.  She was right in front of me and I saw it all happen.  A tree root jumped up and grabbed her foot.  She claims she could’ve stopped her fall, but was too lazy to do so.  She probably just wanted a break.

I thought we might’ve lost her for a second, but I was eventually able to locate a pulse.  It took me a while to even find her because her cammo shorts made her really blend in amongst the nature.

Anyway, pretty good little weekend there.  Not too shabby.

How bout you?  Ever fallen during a trail run?  Color any eggs this weekend?  Weather in your parts nice enough for walks, bubbles, and balloons?

-Scott

 

 

Runners: Fall Like a Soap Actress

More than a month after falling on a run and busting up my knee on a rock, I was happy to go on my 3^rd run this week.  Along the 4 mile jaunt, I was thinking about what I know about falling.  Here’s what I came up with.

Runners fall.  I’ve seen it a hundred times (exactly, I guess).  When you take thousands of steps at a time, you’re bound to trip up every so often (Hopefully not too often, klultz).  So be ready for it.

I have some tips for falling.  Now keep in mind that I’m not a stuntman, but I was a college cheerleader.  And believe it or not, we had to practice falling in practice (coincidentally).

At nationals.

Cheerleaders occasionally fall.  That’s what happens when you’re making a difficult human pyramid.  So here’s what we practiced.

Don’t worry, I didn’t drop her.

We’d climb up on a big box and then jump off it, falling to the ground.  Sounds silly, right?  But it helped.  We were trained to try and roll down – one body part at a time.  Kind of like soap opera actresses who roll to the ground when they faint at some shocking revelation – ankles, lower leg, upper leg, hips, torso, shoulder, then head.

Also, NEVER put your hands down to break your fall.  I’ve seen many a person over the year break an arm by trying to stop their fall with their hands.  I understand it’s difficult mentally to allow your body to hit the floor first, but here’s why you do:  If you ever watch pro-wrasslin’ then watch how they land – perfectly flat back with arms outstretched.  That’s so the impact is spread out, and not just one small area is absorbing the blow.

Here’s a super sweet video I found showing how-to do a wrasslin fall:

It’s kind of like how they say when running you should land more flat footed than with a heel strike – to spread out the force of impact over a larger area, instead of it all come through a concentrated point, thus reducing the shock and chance of injury.

Now you may be saying, “Dude, you jacked up your knee falling, why should we listen?”  Here’s why, smart-arse.  When I fell, my legs got tangled in some kind of metal wire – like a coat hanger.  Unfortunately, there was a large rock that my knee hit on the way down.  My other knee took a bump, but was ok.  I can’t help that there was a rock.  But peep this.  Even though it was hard, I didn’t put my hands down to stop my fall.  I stretched out my arms and allowed my torso, ribs, and arms to absorb the shock at once.  It hurt like a muther, and I got all scraped up, yes, but it’s better than breaking a forearm.

So there ya go, them’s my tips for falling during a run.  Good luck to you, and watch out for those rocks!

Do you have anything to add?  How do you fall?  Do you believe that pro wrestling is really just a soap for males?

 

I Nancy Kerriganed My Own Knee

As we begin these Winter Olympics, we also are upon the 20 year anniversary of when Olympian skater Nancy Kerrigan had her knee get whacked by an attacker.

To honor that anniversary, I apparently thought it would be a good idea to recreate the event…on myself.

Last week we had some nice weather, and I was getting the running itch after my couple week rest from the Dopey Challenge.  So I threw on the ole runnin jorts and hit the road.  About a half mile into it I saw some old abandoned railroad tracks.

Now, I’m a lover of history, and a little way down these tracks is where the first train robbery in Texas had happened back in the 1800’s.  I’d visited to the spot several times (the even host a 5k there).  But I was heading the other way.  I did because I know it leads to the site of where an old Native American attack occurred on some of the first settlers there.  Thought I might check that out.

But I also knew that a little down the tracks, a portion had been removed and was now a dirt path that leads to some paved trails.  Thought it would make for a nice run.  Wrong.

Let me preface this next part by saying that I have NEVER fallen on a run.  Ever.  I know I’m in the minority there…or I was…

As soon as I got on the tracks, I realized it wasn’t a good running surface.  I decided to get off of them.  But about 4 steps in, my feet got tangled in a circular metal wire that was in the overgrown grass on the tracks.  I knew I was going down.  I landed hard.  I knew instantly that something was wrong with my knee.  I looked and it had graciously broken my fall…on a big rock.

Both knees and hands were bleeding.  My shoulder hurt.  My whole body felt on fire.  I knew it was the adrenaline from the unexpected hit.  I laid on the tracks for several minutes holding my knee, not able to move.  Now mind you, I was only a few feet from a busy road.  Why did nobody stop to check on the motionless body on the abandoned train tracks?  Maybe they were scared of what they’d find.

Anyway, after the adrenaline wore off, I was able to slowly get up and slowly walk back.  I got cleaned up and drove home.  Spent the night icing and elevating.  The next morning I woke to find my knee was replaced by a flesh colored grapefruit.

One of these knees is knot like the other. PS, this was 3 days after, so the swelling was down.

I iced and elevated the next few days and the swelling mostly went down.  It feels better every day, but I haven’t had it checked out yet.  Going to monitor it a bit more.  I’ve been able to walk OK, but it is stiff.  It is a tad tender to the touch at the point of impact.  I don’t have full range of motion yet.  I’m pretty positive that nothing is torn or broken.  I’m hoping it was just like a big charlie horse.

Anyway, since then we’ve had a nasty little cold front come through, and we even got some snow!  So I’m glad I have an excuse for not running right now!  To be continued…

Do you have any embarrassing good unfortunate fall stories?  Would you stop if you saw a body on the tracks?  Do you have any professional diagnosis?

 

 

I May Be A Teenage Girl

I really like Thursdays now-a-days.  Thursday evenings mean I have completed another week of workouts (until the weekend).  Fridays are a rest day for me at this point in the schedule.  So yay for Thursday being the new Friday.

I usually like to run with Thursday Night Social Run when I can.  It’s a fun group of like-minded runners who run, then hang out with food and drink specials at an ever rotating carousel of establishments.  So that is something to look forward to too!

Some of our group. Let’s play “Where’s Scott?”

And of course, now it’s American Football season and they televise some games on Thursday nights, so that’s usually on wherever we meet.  Not to mention Baseball playoffs going on, and basketball about to start up.  Fall is great.  Speaking of which, the weather finally got cool this week!!!  The last couple days have been in the 50’s overnight with mid 70’s during the day.  And I’m proud to report that we had some rain, and the rain made the humidity go away!

But back to the title of this post.  Here’s why I may be a teenage girl.  Thursday also means there’s a new episode of Vampire Diaries.  Don’t ask me why, but I’m very much hooked on that show.  Yes, it’s a show about high school vampires…and werewolves…and witches…and ghosts.  What can I say?

Aren’t they so dreamy? Er, uh, I mean isn’t she hawt?

They also have a spinoff that started this season called The Originals.  I am also into that.  I can’t help it.  Especially since it is set in one of my absolute favorite cities in the world – New Orleans!  Here’s me after the Half Marathon there:

Hey Mister! I like your “throw”.

Finally, even though I’ve given up running with music, when I did I always had Dashboard Confessional on the playlist.  I don’t know why I love that band so much either.  But if you ever see their MTV Unplugged Concert (I have dang near worn out the DVD), most of the audience in studio are teenage gals.  I’ve since seen the band in concert a couple times.  Even once after running a Half Marathon in Dallas and could barely walk…but I sure danced!

The guitar player from that band is also a solo artist and lives here in Dallas.  I met him at a show recently and I think I scared him a little with my talk of DC – “You’re definitely not our normal demographic.” he said.

John Lefler.

So there you go.  I may be a very manly teenage girl.

What about y’all?  What slightly embarrassing unusual obsessions do you have?