Face Plant

The marathon is just a week away and today I did my last long run before the big race.  I headed out this morning with the plan of running 18-20 miles.  I had intended on doing this last Saturday but my run then ended up being a disaster and I only was able to do about 10 miles.  My training hasn't been too good leading up to this marathon and I was hoping today I would finally have a good run.  I have been bad about preparing for my long runs so last night I made sure to eat well and got to bed early.  This morning I felt really good-ate my oatmeal, had my Gatorade, and off I went with my iPod mini full of motivating songs.

It was a beautiful day here today and perfect for running.  I was able to get out of the house around 7:30 AM and the weather was perfect.   I ran my usual route and was pleasantly surprised at my 9:30 minute/mile pace.  I was cruising along and having a wonderful time.  Around 15 miles in I decided to head into the center of town to get my second water at CVS and make my way back home.  It was at this time that one of my favorite songs, "Lean Back," came blasting onto the iPod and I began to pick up my pace.  I must have been really into the song because the next thing I knew my foot got stuck in the sidewalk and I found myself awkwardly trying to prevent myself from face planting into the pavement.  Unfortunately I was unsuccessful and did a very ungraceful belly flop maneuver straight into the sidewalk.  It was a pretty bad fall-the kind where a complete stranger pulls over on a main road to ask if you are OK.  I was totally embarrassed and quickly rolled over and picked myself up to survey the damage.  My knee was bleeding, my shoulder was bruised, and my hand covered in blood.  Luckily my face and teeth were intact so it wasn't that bad.  I rolled up my pant leg as to not bleed all over my new purple pants and started to hobble my way to CVS to call Brad to come and pick me up.

We have been posting a lot about Noah and his new walking and the many new bumps and bruises he gets every day.  I laughed to myself as I thought about this and how his Mom was going to match him today!  I also thought about how Noah always gets himself back up after a spill and happily keeps on trying to walk.  He's a very determined little boy and I like to think he gets some of his will and determination from me.  At this point I had gotten to CVS, bought my water, and haggled with them to give me some paper towel (they clearly saw that I was bleeding and you would have thought that asking for a piece of paper towel was asking for gold!).  I took another look at my injuries and made a quick "nursing" judgement (sometimes being a nurse comes in handy) and decided that I should keep going.  I was not going to let a little fall prevent me from finishing what I had set out to do and if Noah could do it so could I!  So I made sure my pant leg was securely rolled up and I started my run back home. 

I definitely didn't ran very fast for those last 3 miles but I happily did them and ended up running my goal of 18 miles.  I was happy with myself for not stopping and spent those last miles thinking about Noah and how very proud of him I am.