re-defining the concept of hitting the wall... on a 5 K!!!

[marco83]

On Saturday I re-defined the concept of "hitting the wall" ...

...and I did that in a 5k park run!!! but instead of a wall, I hit the trail (with my face and leg... fairly painful)...

Indeed, this weekend I not only didn't manage to run much, but I got a pretty big fall in a parkrun and hurt my face and left leg.. As i am preparing for a 10K and trying to get faster (with interval training and repetitions) I went for my local park run on Saturday.

The idea was to test my speed, maybe get a new PB and test my willingess to endure after I have no more energy...

So there I was, running pretty fast (3:10 the first Km...position: 2nd overall... ) and very tired (haven't run that fast in ages.. and actually never run that fast for longer than a couple of K.). This combination was probably a bad idea considering it is a park run, with mud and small trail... Additionally, probably because I was tired, I forgot how the parkrun was and when I got to the downhill with a hard left turn at the end of it (fairly technical point if you are running fast) I lost control, full speed I turn my foot to the left (to turn) and I completely lost contact with the soil.

My legs went up and my face went down on the ground! It was a pretty bad fall, luckily I didn't hurt my self too much, a few scratches and bruises and a big scare for everybody who saw me (after falling, with scratches on my face and leg, and some blood - not much to be honest - I slowly became pale for my blood sugar level went down and everybody thought I needed hospital attention... I knew it was nothing so serious, just my body reacts in this way to blood and pain... cannot do much about it).

After half an hour and a bit of sugar I went back to normal and home.

I spent the morning relaxing, afternoon at the local fun park inside with my son (I promised him to go swimming but could not after the fall, but he was happy...). Yesterday I went for a day out and this morning I managed a 3 miles slow run. I think I will be able to get back with serious running in a week or so

Well, from now on I do need to pay more attention to the slippery autumn trails ...

happy running and have a good week

Marco

[JaySeeSkinny Half Marathon]

A similar thought crossed my mind this morning. The leaves are falling fast. It looks lovely at the moment and everything is crisp and dry. But soon those roots and rocks on the trails are going to be hidden underneath foliage, and those leaves are going to be soggy and very slippery. I'll need to pick my feet up more than I do now.

Sorry to hear about your fall - glad you're OK. Sounds quite dramatic - don't make a habit of it!

[roseabi Ultramarathon]

Nasty! It's a horrible shock when that happens. I'm jolly glad you weren't badly hurt. Still, I hear that pretty much every runner falls over at some point, even regularly

[misswobble Marathon in reply to roseabi]

Ooops! You just have to dust yourself off and crack on. We all tumble but mostly it's just grazes and bruises.

I hope you have a less eventful Parkrun next week. Hopefully you will get a PB and that will cheer you up

[ju-ju- Marathon]

Ouch, that must have been horrible. It's so easy to trip or fall on the trail, I wish you a speedy recovery

[Curlygurly2 Half Marathon]

Oh how awful, that sounds like a bad fall. They say every runner takes a tumble at some point, hasn't happened to me yet. well done for not letting it put you off, and getting back out there. xxx