Run (painfully) interrupted at Stillwell Woods

Scene of the crime

Today's run (Stillwell Woods): 2.5 miles

I never saw the rock that took me down at Stillwell this morning but I knew it would be bad before I hit the ground. I'd been extra cautious throughout the run, scanning my path for roots and artifacts that could trip me up. The section where I fell was directly in front of a fork that I normally follow to the right, but I'd decided to go straight this time. Big mistake. I ended up with a bunch of bad cuts and scrapes and a slightly dislocated shoulder.

Today was supposed to be an easy trail run and I planned to follow that by watching the NYC marathon when I got home. Although the temperature showed 54°, it felt colder. The interior of Stillwell Woods is usually cooler than the general temperature. Knowing that, I elected to wear light track pants, a long sleeve tech shirt and a pair of running gloves. That turned out to be the best decision I made today. As bad as it was, it would have been worse with shorts, short sleeves and no hand protection.

I started off well enough and came through my first mile and a half ready to run another two. I encountered another runner whose path intersected mine as I came up a hill. I pushed a little to gain some distance from him and veered onto another trail to continue my usual loop. I stayed ahead of the runner, but took a loop trail off that path. The other runner reappeared when that loop connected back to the prior trail.

As we ran together, the runner asked me if he was going in the right direction. I said that depended on where he wanted to go. He needed to get to the high school and I told him he'd reach the main field in a couple of minutes and that the ring path would take him back to the main trail head. We said our goodbyes and I decided to do another small loop which led to my unexpected catastrophe.

The scariest part of my fall was feeling my shoulder go out of alignment when I hit the ground. I'd dislocated that shoulder years before playing hockey and later during karate training, so I wasn't surprised that happened. I was concerned about being able to move under my own power, but my shoulder reset itself. I had no idea how much I was bleeding so after I established nothing was broken, I continued on. At that point I only wanted to make it back to my car that was parked almost a mile away.

Red: cuts & scrapes, blue: shoulder injury

The fall deflated my energy level and I struggled to get through the remainder of my run. Oddly, the Garmin data showed that I covered the post fall distance at my fastest pace of the day. Sure didn't feel like it. I got home and took a hot shower before my wife dressed my wounds. I elected not to show a picture of the damage, but the above illustration shows all my impact points. I tried to watch the marathon but my heart wasn't in it. I still have it on DVR so I might watch some highlights tonight.

Laying on my driveway at 4:25 AM

One fall, many injuries: (knee, elbow, shoulder, both hands)

Today's run (street): 2.5 miles

Most of today's run was pleasantly routine but it ended badly. I'd expected colder weather when I laid out my running clothes last night, including long sleeves, long pants and running gloves. The local TV station showed 55° this morning so I opted for short sleeves and running shorts. In retrospect, I wish I'd gone with the original gear.

I ran my usual loop and besides the mild but persistent pain in my lower Achilles, I felt pretty good. By the first mile my Achilles pain had disappeared (as it usually does) and I concentrated more on leg turnover. I had read that arm motion influences cadence and I tried to run with more upper body movement to see if it had a measurable effect on my speed. I'll look at the Garmin read-out to see how my pace compares to earlier in the run, after trying that method.

I was preparing to hit the stop button on my Garmin when I reached my driveway and took a sliding spill along the blacktop. Apparently, my foot caught the edge of the concrete section that leads to the street. I remember falling and hitting the ground, my headlamp flying off and clattering on the ground. It was still very dark at 4:30 AM but I could see a lot of blood and the middle finger on my left hand was numb.

I collected my headlamp and righted myself. It took me three tries to key in the security code to open the garage door and I concentrated on keeping the den floor clean from blood once I'd made it inside. I washed my wounds and sprayed liberally with Dermaplast. Once I saw the extent of my injuries I went upstairs to tell my wife who was up and attending to the damage in an instant. She is a Red Cross volunteer and has been trained to dress wounds. That came in very handy today.

I soon realized that the bandaging required for the size and amount of cuts and bruises that I'd received would greatly limit my mobility. Besides that, my finger was aching and I wondered if I should go for X-Rays. I decided then to work from home today, since I wasn't able to shower and probably couldn't manage well on the train and subway.

I'm feeling better after ibuprofen and icing my finger. I can't believe how quickly a routine run could turn into a day-changing event. It could have been far worse and I was fortunate that if I was to trip, it would happen in front of my house. I won't be running tomorrow but hopefully by Sunday I'll be ready to (carefully) return to the road.