Face Plant!

I took a tumble today, and it was a good one. John and I were 4 miles into a 12 mile run, coming down the backside of Fester's Wander, a gorgeous section of single-track trail at WyCo. My right shoe caught the remnants of a small tree stump, and I took a Superman dive down hill. My water bottle flew out of my hand and I landed face down in some nice, soft dirt. Soft dirt still hurts, by the way.

Lucky for me, my left shoulder caught a tree root that was raised in the trail, which stopped my downhill momentum, but also left my shoulder raw and sore. A little more speed before I caught my foot and I'm pretty sure I would have gone @ss-over-teakettle the rest of the way down. I had enough forward motion that when I landed on my face/arm/chest that my feet were in the air and threatening to go over. After I finally came to rest, I got up, brushed off, grabbed my bottle and took stock. My left forearm was cut and bleeding (barely a flesh wound), left shoulder raw and bleeding (superficial at best), left shin and knee scraped raw (no real blood); no real damage done. I decided if I stopped for too long, I'd get too sore to finish the run. I kept moving.

We finished the run, and after a few miles my hip stopped throbbing. I washed everything that was raw at the next water hydrant. Turns out mud makes a good coagulant. I finished the run feeling pretty spectacular. Hopefully I'll feel as good at next weekend's race and avoid any spills. Tonight, I'm pretty bruised up and my shoulder is a little sore.

This just goes to show you, that no matter how much experience you have or how many times you've been on a trail, if you stop paying attention you are going to fall. The Trail Gods will laugh at you, as well as your running partner. If they're a good partner, they'll ask if you're OK before they start laughing but they will laugh, nonetheless.