Perfect Fall
The sun was shining this morning but the day's rain had not yet begun to fall. The evergreens stood tall in the sunny sky, while the leaves of their neighboring trees slowly drifted to the ground.
The tree-line behind my house is a mix of orange, yellow, green and gold.
It is indeed fall in Western Washington, however, that has nothing to do with my title.
I'm talking about the action that took place today on my run.
I headed out for my run right after dropping the kids off for school this morning. Sometimes I do some stuff around the house and then run so that the temperature outside has time to warm up a little before I hit the street, but today rain was in the forecast so I needed to get out there and log a few miles before a downpour.
I grabbed my ipod, mapped my route, and took off. Things were going so well. I've decided I'm too much of a chicken to run on the paved path that runs behind my house so I have to take to the street. The path is pretty, tree lined, and goes for about 30 miles from the Sound down to Chehalis. But, this path is totally abandoned during the day when I'm out for a run, which is creepy. It is so secluded I fear that some disgruntled citizen might see this specimen of middle aged mess running by and decide he wants to freak me out by simply showing his face or yelling "boo". So, in the interest of not peeing my pants in public, I'm trying to keep to the sidewalks until I find a running buddy.
My first 2.5 miles were smooth sailing. Well, at mile .001 my neighbor tried to run me over by opting to only look to the right, and didn't see me until his truck was nearly running over my foot. But aside from that, things were going well. I was feeling good, running strong, and getting it done. I turned the corner onto the main street that leads back to my house and prepared for the hill climb that was in store.
Suddenly, to the right I noticed a building that my mom had asked about the day before. I decided since I was running right by it, it was my duty to check it out. I quickly decided it wasn't an old school, but the building was distinct and I started to peruse the photos of stores and office buildings in my mind to see if something rang a bell.
Ring Ring.
Pot hole.
I let out a super loud, scared myself it was so loud, yelp type sound and next thing I know I was in mid-air. My arms were spinning in some attempt to grab some extra large particle of air that may save this trip from turning into a fall.
For one brief moment I was filled with excitement - I was safe. I got this.
But that moment passed and my flailing turned into my body contorting into a perfect flat belly flop into a pile of leaves on the grass median of that empty building I had been looking at.
I should have taken advantage of that moment and looked on over to see what that building was, but I was worried that the people in the cars who were passing by would think I was dead. In order to avoid the conversation between me and a potential good samaritan, I thought it would be best to hop right up and keep running.
Fall #2 of my little running career was not very painful at all. Grass and leaves made for a cushy landing spot. I hurt my shoulder a little, probably not when I fell but when I was tripping or rushing to get up quickly to try and save my pride.
The rest of the run home was fine, but I couldn't stop thinking about the fact that in all my miles of driving I have never witnessed anyone fall while running on a seemingly flat surface and yet I have now fallen twice. And although most of my running seems to be on mostly empty paths or quiet streets the only times I have fallen have been in the presence of strangers, no doubt entertained by that woman who levitated off the path and slid to a grinding halt on her face.
So I guess the silver lining to this fall is that it was fall and those leaves and damp grass protected my hands and knees from road rash.
The tree-line behind my house is a mix of orange, yellow, green and gold.
It is indeed fall in Western Washington, however, that has nothing to do with my title.
I'm talking about the action that took place today on my run.
I headed out for my run right after dropping the kids off for school this morning. Sometimes I do some stuff around the house and then run so that the temperature outside has time to warm up a little before I hit the street, but today rain was in the forecast so I needed to get out there and log a few miles before a downpour.
I grabbed my ipod, mapped my route, and took off. Things were going so well. I've decided I'm too much of a chicken to run on the paved path that runs behind my house so I have to take to the street. The path is pretty, tree lined, and goes for about 30 miles from the Sound down to Chehalis. But, this path is totally abandoned during the day when I'm out for a run, which is creepy. It is so secluded I fear that some disgruntled citizen might see this specimen of middle aged mess running by and decide he wants to freak me out by simply showing his face or yelling "boo". So, in the interest of not peeing my pants in public, I'm trying to keep to the sidewalks until I find a running buddy.
My first 2.5 miles were smooth sailing. Well, at mile .001 my neighbor tried to run me over by opting to only look to the right, and didn't see me until his truck was nearly running over my foot. But aside from that, things were going well. I was feeling good, running strong, and getting it done. I turned the corner onto the main street that leads back to my house and prepared for the hill climb that was in store.
Suddenly, to the right I noticed a building that my mom had asked about the day before. I decided since I was running right by it, it was my duty to check it out. I quickly decided it wasn't an old school, but the building was distinct and I started to peruse the photos of stores and office buildings in my mind to see if something rang a bell.
Ring Ring.
Pot hole.
I let out a super loud, scared myself it was so loud, yelp type sound and next thing I know I was in mid-air. My arms were spinning in some attempt to grab some extra large particle of air that may save this trip from turning into a fall.
For one brief moment I was filled with excitement - I was safe. I got this.
But that moment passed and my flailing turned into my body contorting into a perfect flat belly flop into a pile of leaves on the grass median of that empty building I had been looking at.
I should have taken advantage of that moment and looked on over to see what that building was, but I was worried that the people in the cars who were passing by would think I was dead. In order to avoid the conversation between me and a potential good samaritan, I thought it would be best to hop right up and keep running.
Fall #2 of my little running career was not very painful at all. Grass and leaves made for a cushy landing spot. I hurt my shoulder a little, probably not when I fell but when I was tripping or rushing to get up quickly to try and save my pride.
The rest of the run home was fine, but I couldn't stop thinking about the fact that in all my miles of driving I have never witnessed anyone fall while running on a seemingly flat surface and yet I have now fallen twice. And although most of my running seems to be on mostly empty paths or quiet streets the only times I have fallen have been in the presence of strangers, no doubt entertained by that woman who levitated off the path and slid to a grinding halt on her face.
So I guess the silver lining to this fall is that it was fall and those leaves and damp grass protected my hands and knees from road rash.
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