Ouch!

On Saturday I had the pleasure of running with members of the Heidelberg International Marathon Club. The plan was to meet around 8:00 a.m. at a wandering event in Heidelberg and run the 20K wander course, which would take us up and over the famous castle.

I had a 20-mile run on the schedule, so showed up early so I could run 5K before meeting the group. About 10 minutes before eight I stood in front of the school where we were to meet and started looking for "crazy runner types". I found a likely candidate without too much trouble and sure enough it was a member of the marathon club. We waited a bit and eventually had 15-20 people gathered. We split into small groups based on running pace and we were off.

I ended up running with a younger man, Kevin, who said he was going to take it easy, maybe around a 10:00/mile. As we started up the first hill my roughly 15 years younger running companion didn't slow much as we cruised up the challenging slope. My breathing increased, but I hung with him as we muscled our way up a winding road towards the top. I was relieved when we reached the top and Kevin, who seemly was barely winded, started flying down the other side of the hill on a stony trail at a pace that was downright scary.

It wasn't long until we were climbing the next hill and about halfway up I finally said I had to slow down, so we did, but as soon as we reached the top off we went again. This continued for the first 10K or so, but as we started climbing a long steep hill I told Kevin that he would probably lose me on this one and he should go on ahead. He kept churning up the hill and I shuffled. Another runner (not with the club) passed me and soon was on Kevin's heels.

As I reached the crown of the hill, they were already out of sight! I started hurling down the hill thinking that maybe I could catch them and next thing I knew I caught my left toe on a rock and down I went hitting the fine gravel path hard and fast. I tried to roll to lessen the impact, but too little too late. I stood up and rinsed off my hands and knees with water from my CamelBak and did a damage assessment. My left knee was bleeding quite a bit from a couple cuts, and the other injuries were just scrapes, so started running again.

After 10-12 minutes I arrived at the next aid station. My lower left leg was covered with blood and I was getting some really strange looks from the walkers who were gathered there. I decided to have the Red Cross medic take a look at my knee. He cleaned it up and wrapped a bandage around it and soon I was on my way.

I finished the last hour of the run at a moderate pace without any further mishaps. As I arrived back at the starting point Kevin was out front waiting for me, wondering what had happened to me. We talked about my fall and the run as we waited for the others to show up. I stayed around and chatted for awhile until group started disbanding, then thanked everyone for a great morning. I inquired about their normal running days and hope I can run with them on occasion in the future.

I headed home for a shower and some hot food, and the scolding that I knew I would receive from my wife for coming home "bloody" again.