I fell
The weekly half marathons I do usually go off uneventfully, yes I do meet a few known people and maybe feel a tinge of pain somewhere, but on the whole, it is a 2 and a half-hour of focused “me time”.
This last week, I started at my regular time at 6:45 AM. I went towards Sankey lake and on the route, I also met Milind and his running team. I made a mental note, that I should start running with his team. You know that was one of my new year resolutions, to run with a group. Maybe, it will get fulfilled this time, let’s see.
I had a good pace and was trying a loop in one of my regular routes in Sadashivnagar. I took a turn at Starbucks, and then I tripped and fell. I don’t know what I was thinking about, but I think it was primarily that my speed was great today, the weather was conducive for running and I had almost a full bottle of the hydration drink. But the fall was nice, in terms of how it was unconsciously executed by me. I was completely flat on the ground, hands, and legs fully extended. The traffic stopped, few people came running and asked whether I am fine. One of them went into Starbucks and the good fellow there got me a glass of water and clean tissues. I sat down and surveyed the damage. Both knees were scraped, the right one badly. My left arm had a scratch and both my palms were also injured. I poured water on the wounds and cleaned them with tissues. The doctor later told me to not pour water on wounds, well next time. I sat for a few minutes. One among the group of gentlemen who stopped to help me and offered to drop me home and asked to rest for a week. I said, I was fine and they can carry on. It was nice to know that people around stepped in, spoke to me, and helped me out.
But, most importantly, I had paused my Sports tracker and Strava apps :-).
After surveying the damage for a few minutes, I decided on the next course of action. Calling home and letting them know would lead to panic, I could walk without any issues, and the wounds needed medical attention. I walked to Ramakrishna nursing home, got the wounds cleaned, and took a tetanus shot. There was another BBMP worker ahead of me, he had a cut on his hands. My wound was cleaned, and I walked out of the nursing home to Bashyam circle and then towards Sankey tank.
What do I do now?
I was walking without any issues, and the running time was also good. I had completed 12.8 KMS of running and had another 8 KMS to go.
Do I retire or run?
After a few seconds of thought, that was like ages, I decided to run :-).
See, I have been running a half marathon or more every week this year until now, better to continue with the trend.
The rest of the run was uneventful, it was slower, and some people were staring at me, but it was fine.
Good decision.
Completed the run, and came home, my daughters got psyched looking at the wound, but I assured them all was well.
I had to go visiting a few places, did that, it was still paining now and then, but nothing special.
On Sunday, I visited IKEA. A week after it opened. I didn’t want to go, but you know the wife wanted to and I couldn’t say no.
I think when you get hurt in the knees, and it starts to heal, you subconsciously start dragging it. We walked for almost 6 KMS including to and from the metro station and within IKEA, I was dragging my feet during the entire time. One kind gentleman within IKEA stopped and enquired what the problem was and whether I was diabetic. I explained about my hurt. He opened up about a problem that he had about 8 years ago. It seems that the cartilage/fluid in his knee caps was worn out and he could barely walk. A knee replacement surgery was suggested. He consulted with an ayurvedic doctor and a concoction of medicines was suggested along with tulsi and several herbs. I searched, but nothing is coming up in Ayurveda that suggests it works. The worst case is that this information is lost.
Anyways, that was the end of my eventful weekend.
My wounds need to heal quickly as another weekend run beckons.
