The good and the bad

The good: A cool preview video of the Richmond Marathon. This really is getting me pumped up!



The bad: I had an easy 12-mile run scheduled today and things really weren't feeling good from the start. I've got a sore hamstring that gets a little worse every day. It's not actually to the level of real pain yet, but I have this sinking feeling that it could be soon. Besides that, I just wasn't feeling right for today's run. The plan was to meet up with the DART group for the usual 6.39-mile run, then run back home the long way, repeating 5 miles of the loop and finishing at my house.

Chad, Chris, Rodney, and Jeff were there, and I knew Chris was going to want to run faster than I would. Fortunately, he ended up running along with Chad and Rodney, and I ran with Jeff, who's an ultrarunner just looking to log some miles. Still, I didn't feel great for the entire run. After we finished the first 6.39, I joined Chad and Jeff for tea. Then Chad and I headed back out again -- Chad was doing 13 more, and I was doing 5 more. About 3 miles in, as we headed down a steep hill on Patrick Johnson Lane, I stumbled over a small swell in the road. I tried to catch my balance, but couldn't, and could feel myself falling, almost in slow motion, face-first towards the pavement.

As I fell, I couldn't help thinking about Washington, the dislocated shoulder, and the pain in my other shoulder, the one I landed on, that still hasn't completely gone away. I consciously tried to avoid landing on any major joints. I ended up with my arms almost in a Superman position, extended in front of my face. The palms of my hands hit the ground first, scraping along for six inches or so until I collapsed onto my left side. I scraped my palms, my left elbow, and somehow, my left buttock was scraped worst of all. But nothing is dislocated, and all my joints appeared to be fully functional.

Chad asked if I was okay, and I was actually okay. Yes, the scrapes stung, but I was going to be fine. In fact, after a couple minutes composing myself, I was able to hop right back to a run with Chad at the same pace we'd been running.

Still, I'm starting to wonder if I have some intractable case of clumsiness. I've never heard of anyone falling as much as I seem to, on pavement. I guess there's not really anything I can do about it other than try to be careful.

Details of today's run are below.


For kicks, you can click through and see if you can figure out based on my pace plot where exactly I fell.