Running mishap

I have been running for a long time. Not today, but over the course of my life. I started when I was 12, and I am now 42. So I've been running 30 years. I thought I had experienced everything that could happen on a run. I was wrong.

Denis Jei was still in football season. What this means essentially is that my Sundays are shot. His games are often 45 minutes away. They are required to arrive an hour before game time. Games are an hour. And they stay after for team meetings. Add it all up and it's 4+ hours out of a 10 hour day down the drain. I would have a slightly different attitude if he enjoyed it, or got to play. But since neither of those were true it was just a pain.

So on game day I have my own little routine. I drive him to wherever he is supposed to go. I drop him with his team. Then I change clothes and go for a run. I have a good solid hour or more to run. Come back, change clothes, and watch the last few minutes of the game. It usually works quite well.

This weekend the game was way out on Beechmont. No worries. It has a huge hill that I like to run so it'll work just fine. I dropped Denis off according to plan then got out onto the road. The last time at this field I went to the left, so for a change of pace this time I started right. Turns out I was luckier last time. After a mile or so the sidewalk disappeared and I was running in the middle of a busy street. So I turned around and went back the other way.

I passed the fields then headed off for the hill. It was a lovely day. Clear and sunny, but cool. Very light breeze. Just a perfect day for running. I had my sunglasses on, and my (well, actually Liam's) iPod blasting tunes into my ear. Pretty much as close to running perfection as you can get. I was moving along at a pace that for me these days is considered cooking (probably 8 min/mile) when something caught my attention.

I was about to pass an apartment complex. I saw a woman walk out of the complex and get into her car. I knew she was about to head down the drive, so I looked to her to make eye contact so she would see me coming. Looking back, I'm glad she never did.

As I was intently focusing on her I passed a telephone pole. I never thought about it at the time, but in older neighborhoods telephone poles carry more than the phone signal. Many of them carry power lines and even cable TV wiring. Generally the cable wiring is stapled to the side of the pole, so all you see is a thick black line up against the wood. None of this crossed my wind as I attempted to pass the pole.

Notice the extra word in the sentence above? Yes. I gave it an effort. But I was unsuccessful. I was more than that, actually. As I ran I was forcibly lifted into the air and brought to a complete stop! For a minute I didn't even realize what had happened, It was such a shocking experience. What the f*** just happened?? Hell, at first I was just glad that I had landed on my feet. Once I got my wits I realized what had happened. You remember those cable wires? Well on this pole they weren't neatly stapled to the wood. No, on this pole it looped out about a foot or so from about 6' off the ground to about 3'. In other words, exactly where my arm swings while I'm running.

So what had happened was that as I ran I placed my arm in this little loop and it had brought me to a complete stop. Um. Ouch. I felt like a fish yanked out of a pond by a hook! Actually I am sure it was an equally jarring experience. I was just so completely in my little world that the shock of being stopped was akin to falling into a pool. Totally unexpected. Totally confusing.
I took a minute to survey the damage. My left arm hurt like hell. There was already a nice clear welt across it from the cable. I knew that would be a lovely bruise before long. Other than that I felt OK. So I started running again. It took about a mile for the pain to subside, but once it did I was back in my running world again. Only not so completely this time. Now I was paying just a bit more attention!

It is three weeks later as I write this. The welt turned into a nasty bruise, but now it is gone. The bigger issue is it seems I twisted my ankle when I stopped. So much for my pride at sticking the landing! I landed first on my left foot, and that ankle is still hurting. In fact, I haven't run in almost a week to allow it to heal. It is feeling a bit better, so it won't be long before I'm back on the roads. But you can bet I'll be casting a wary eye towards any malicious telephone poles along my path!