One section Tales From Another Mother Runner is called In Her Shoes, which is first-person accounts of different running situations and tales. We love running stories as much as—or maybe more than?—running itself, but we had a surplus of In Her Shoes stories…if we put them all in the book, it would’ve been bigger than a dictionary. So we’re going to run these every other Friday for a while.
Kicking us off is Tina, who bit it big time on a training run and cracked her pinky. (Stupid sidewalk lips!)
After running with a friend for three or four miles, I had three or four more to cover solo. I was training for the Hatfield McCoy Half Marathon, and the weekend before, I’d done really well in a 10K. I had that I-got-this feeling: totally strong and confident.
Maybe 20 minutes later, I’m lying on the pavement after tripping on an uneven sidewalk near a Subway restaurant. I’ve run on that sidewalk a million times.
Of course, the first thing I did was look around to see if anybody saw me.
Then I noticed my knee was bloody. I thought, ‘OK. I can deal with this. I’m good to go.’ I took a couple of steps and noticed blood on the back of my hand. When I turned my hand over, my finger was totally not where it was supposed to be; my pinky had snapped at the bottom where it attaches to my hand.
I panicked. I didn’t have my phone with me so I ran to my friend’s house, about a mile and a half away.
All I could think about on the way to her house was, ‘I don’t want anyone to see me.’ Besides my pinky, which didn’t really hurt, I had the bloody knee and I knew something had happened to my lip or my tooth. I even stopped by a parked car to look in the side mirror to check it out. Everything looked fine, but about a week later, when I (finally) went to the dentist to get my tooth buffed out, the dentist removed a small chunk of pavement from my tooth.
My friend said I was really calm when she answered the door. I said, ‘I’ve wiped out.’ She thought I meant I’m wiped out, as in, I’m tired. ‘Come on in and sit down,” she said, to which I replied, ‘No! Look at my hand!’ She wanted to go directly to the emergency room, but I had other ideas. ‘No, I’m not going. I’ve got to go pick my daughter up from dance class.’
I called my husband, who agreed with my friend, saying I had to go to the ER stat. My pinky would still be broken later, so I came home and took a shower because I was nasty. Then we went to the ER.
I figured the doctors would just pop my pinky back into place but as soon as they X-rayed it, they told me I’d have to have surgery. Finally, the pain and the magnitude of the injury really started to set in. This was not just a week or two to recover; it would require several surgeries. Eventually, a hand surgeon put two pins in. I ran a little bit with the big wrap of gauze around my hand, but it seriously curtailed my training for the half-marathon.
Less than a week after my surgery to remove the pins, I stood at the starting line with an awesome playlist and a resolve to not give up. Because my training hadn’t been the best since the accident, my race wasn’t pretty. As I approached the finish line, I cried.
That race is my benchmark for tolerance and tenaciousness. As one of my daughters put it: “Mom, if you can do that, you can do anything.”
—Tina (Her favorite running buddy now never fails to point out that uneven chunk of sidewalk every single time they run past it.)
Your turn: Have you ever broken a bone—or otherwise really hurt yourself—on a run? Spill all the details in the comments below!
Oh my goodness, wow! I trip all the time on my runs but have never seriously hurt myself. Every time I do trip, though, I for sure check and see if I have anyone watching.
I laugh because when I took my first fall while running a little over a year ago the first thin I also hacked was to see if anyone saw me. :-) I hurt my foot and had to take a break, but it healed.
Training for my first marathon, on my first 14 mile run, I tripped on my shoelace and fell, dislocating my shoulder. Was laying in the street watching cars go by (no one stopped). Had to walk back to someone gardening and ask them for a ride home. Against docs orders, I took 5 days off from running. (I as following a plan and had only built in two weeks for tanking/illness) Two weeks after, I nailed my 14 and was back on plan. And I got shorter shoelaces and learned a different method for tying so I’d never repeat that problem again.
I packed too much into the week leading to my 13.FUN half-marathon in Durham: office visit and meetings in D.C., prepared a tailgate and dinner for out-of-town friends at homecoming, football game, etc. At the race on Sunday, the route was packed to the brim with runners, not much wiggle-room. Between mile 7 and 8, I was running up a hill and I glanced at a mom pushing her baby in a stroller and did not realize that I was approaching a traffic-calming mound…I tripped and fell flat on my knees and hands. I froze for a second, pulled myself upright, looked at my hands and knees, saw the blood, mentally said, ‘get to the finish’ and kept going. Ironically, it was my fastest finish for the year at 1:54. Thankfully, I did not cause any lingering damage to my knees, but I tore up my favorite capri pants. It was a true BAMR moment when my daughters saw me cross the finish line with bloody knees. They asked, ‘how did you continue to run after you fell?’ My response, ‘I knew and believed that I could finish what I had started.’
6 years ago – trail run with hubby. We are about a mile from being done and I’m running downhill and hook my toe on a rock and tumble forward. When I sat up I looked at my knee – and it’s that moment before the blood starts to run and you can see just how badly you injured yourself. I could see the cut to my knee was pretty deep. Luckily, hubby talked me back to the truck and we drove straight to the ER. I found out when you hobble into an ER with blood running everywhere – they see you right away! I ended up with six stitches and a whole bunch of pain. My hubby and the doctor also bonded over sewing up my knee – hubby was being extra interested and the doctor was pointing out my patella and even offering to let my husband take a stitch (um – don’t you have to have years of medical training to do that???).
Long story short, I didn’t run for 6 weeks while I was recovering, but will never forget which is my left knee as a large scar shaped in the letter “L” is there to remind me.
No, I’ve never really hurt myself or broken a bone….I just wanted to comment on the clever title! When I read it of course my first reaction was “oh good, someone ran their first 10 miler!” Not what I was expecting!
Oh I feel her pain 5 years ago I took a good fall in the dark. I was running down a hill and slipped on ice. I fell face first and skinned my nose and forehead. I had a huge goose egg on my head and I had a small concussion. I skinned my knees and hands pretty good too. I still run and yesterday had a fall on sidewalk lip too:( Luckily all my winter layers kept me in tact.
So far, no run falls. But did wipe out on my bike last summer. Three days prior to my first triathlon. I had just gotten on and was adjusting my glove and the bike went one way and I literally slid across the pavement. Nothing broken but tons of road rash. The morning of the triathlon, I noticed a small red streak going up my arm from my elbow abrasion. Logically, I thought, “it’s probably infected and nothing is going to make it worse.” Right? Several hours after the race I was miserable and achy, with a red streak longer than my 5K. Two weeks of antibiotics and I was good as new. But, I finished my first triathlon!
Ok, never seriously hurt myself on a run but had to chuckle at this story. It’s so like a BAMR to think of picking up her daughter and showering before getting herself to the hospital! I would’ve done the same thing. Thank goodness for sane husbands and friends!
A couple years ago, I went to a conference held near Boylston Street in Boston. The bombing memorials were still in place and on my first morning there, I reverently ran through and around the finish line area. On my way back, nearly at my hotel, I tripped on a cobblestone and went flat out all over the sidewalk. Right in front of a passerby. Skinned knees and palms, and a silver ring I was wearing snapped. But mostly my pride was injured.
The title got me curious: How COLD are the TEMPS in her area for her run compared to my running in northern MN temps?!? BRRRR! But ‘digits’ meant fingers instead. :P So relieved you were taken care of asap. I avoid sidewalks on my runs but as a dirt trail runner, I’ve had my share of falls. Scars of various shapes and I love showing them off in the summer in skirts and dresses!! :) An ice-breaker to share stories. Wishing you safer runs.
I wiped out on an uneven sidewalk 12 years ago and ended up with really bloody hands and knees. I had planned to meet some friends at the beach later that day, so I threw on my bikini along with a few large bandages and headed out. I met my husband that day, and later he said that my goofy bandaids were one of the first things he loved about me :)
I’ve taken a digger a number of times! ha ha! Usually just skinned knees and hands. I did sprain my ankle during one fall and was out for several weeks. I had to call my husband to come and pick me up b/c I was two miles out and couldn’t put any weight on it. I must have looked pretty silly just sitting on the sidewalk waiting. It takes a few minutes to load 3 kids in the car and drive two miles to retrieve your injured wife. ;)
Affordable and easily reached out health-care equipment, moreover cost-effective healing supplies
Hello There. I found your weblog the use of msn. That is a very well written article.
I’ll be sure to bookmark it and come back to read more of your helpful info.
Thank you for the post. I will certainly comeback.