Another one bites the dust

And by "another one", I mean me. And by "dust", I mean "asphalt".

That's right, I've been a bit gimpy the last couple days because, well, I'm a klutz. Or at least, I was on Tuesday morning.

You may remember a while back I blogged on my new fitness kick. Well, that commitment has largely remained intact, and after a few months, I became bored of running on the elliptical day after day. There was also the fact that I have a cheap elliptical that's already underwent some modification to keep it together, and has variable resistance that long since stopped working - meaning my only option to increase workout intensity is to go faster. As I've gotten in better shape, I've had to go faster to keep the same level of work for my heart, and I began to fear I was getting to the point where it was just going to fly apart some morning, with me on it.

So, despite the fact it was already mid-November and we were about to head into the dead of winter, I decided that I was going to start running, using the elliptical as a lighter exercise on non-running days. I got started right before Thanksgiving while there was still some decent whether, and then as the weather got cold, I procured some appropriate cold weather gear and kept at it.

And really, it's been going well. It started out kind of rough, because I had zero clue about how to train other than just go out and running as hard as I thought I could for whatever distance I was running, so I always ended up completely wiped at the end of a run, and often played myself out before I got to the goal distance. But I did some research, got an understanding of where I was at with my fitness level and a decent training plan, and I felt like I was really going to get somewhere over the last week.

Which brings me to Tuesday morning. I was doing a workout where I would go really hard for about a quarter-mile, then walk/job back, then repeat. I was going for 3 reps. Bear in mind that I still exercise first thing in the morning, so I started out sometime just before 6 am. In central PA in early December, it's still pretty dark at that time. However, I'm in a populated area, and there's plenty of available light to run by - but you can't necessarily see every detail.

There's been a lot of newer construction in the area that I run in, and a couple of the roads have just been put in within the last year or so - so there's some areas where the sections of the asphalt come together that the road isn't especially even. My course takes me through one of those areas. What's probably worse is that it's near the end of the course, about the time I reach and look down to check my watch for my time. On my last rep, I was checking my time, took a shorter, more choppy stride than normal, and felt my right foot catch one of the seams in the pavement. I'm not sure I would have had a chance of staying upright under any circumstances, but with my right hand on my left wrist, I had absolutely no chance, and I pitched over forward to the asphalt at full running speed - knees first.

Obviously it hurt, but I didn't immediately sense anything serious had happened, so I started to collect myself and get up. As mad as I was at myself about what had just happened, there was one comfort. As I said, I had started before 6, it was about 6:10 am at this point and still plenty dark, so I was thinking to myself "At least no one saw that...". But then, as I started to stand up, I heard a terrible sound: "Are you okay?" You've got to be kidding me! There was a guy out walking, and I had gone down within about 20 feet of him. Being now mortally embarrassed in addition to the physical pain, I quickly responded "Yeah, I'm okay." Let's be honest here, I had no clue yet if I was okay. "Okay" at this point, was defined as being able to stand up. "Are you sure?" There was an edge in my voice this time "Sir, I'm fine." Then, thinking about it for a second, I quickly threw out a much softer "But thank you!" Seriously, what was I doing refusing potential help? But that was what I had done.

As it turns out, I was, largely, okay. I was able to get up and walk about halfway home, at which point I felt okay enough to jog the rest of the way. My knees were, obviously, very sore - but that was about the extent of it. When I got back to the house, I was able to more thoroughly examine myself and discover that the damage was limited to two bloodied and sore knees. I was probably very fortunate it was winter, because I was pretty much completely covered up, which probably saved me further damage to my knees, and any damage at all to my hands and arms. I didn't even tear my running tights, which was perhaps the thing that surprised me most. In reality, the worst injury was probably to my pride.

Anyhow, I've recovered pretty well. Yesterday was a lost day for running anyhow because we had had snow overnight and it was pouring rain in morning - but I was recovered enough to do a good hard session on the elliptical, and I was back out on the road this morning - still a bit sore but not really limited in any way. Tomorrow is a planned rest day, so hopefully by Saturday I'll be all but 100% again.