Thursday, September 18, 2008

Tangled Up And Blue

Mostly running injuries are stresses and strains bought on by overuse. In other words you get carried-away in your training regime then random parts of the body start to complain. As they make their point by hurting, you have to pay attention. It happens to most runners and there is a well trod path. We ease back, get better, learn our lesson and vow to be more sensible next time. We are for a bit, but then the over-confidence demon pops up and another body part gets sacrificed. The thing that keeps us going is that this cycle can be quite long and we can run injury free for long periods.

However some injuries fall outside the normal spectrum and are the result of good old-fashioned stupidity. That's me at the moment old-fashioned and stupid.

It happened last Sunday. I was running near the edge of the pavement, which was bending round to the right. I landed with less than half of my left foot on the curb. As a result my ankle twisted down and I followed – splat! Laid out in a very inelegant heap.

Result: bruises and grazes on my knee, elbow, and shoulder, a hand that has swollen like a puff-ball and a broken finger. It is all very inconvenient. I can't grip anything with my left hand and all sorts of simple tasks become complicated

After three days off I had to give myself a talking to: “Just because you feel a little beaten-up, there is no excuse for not running” was the gist (except that I added a few more insults and expletives).

So today I went out for an easy 35 minutes. And you know what ... I still feel beaten-up.

3 comments:

beanz said...

oh poor you - take it easy and recover well

Anonymous said...

Oh no, that sounds awful! Even if it's your hand that's injured, running will still be a challenge, take it easy on yourself.

(I broke a thumb a few years ago and know how restrictive it is. it's just not funny, especially when they tape your hand into a 'thumbs up' position :(

Highway Kind said...

Thanks for the sympathy because I have been feeling a little sorry for myself.

But things will get better.