Wednesday, August 29, 2007

Shoulder injury

As I was trail running this morning, I hit a tree root and fell quite hard. As soon as I hit the ground I knew that I had dislocated my shoulder. I was in excruciating pain, and couldn't even lift my arm.I went to the hospital and they re-set my shoulder without a whole lot of problems.

Unfortunately, that likely means that I can't run for at least the next month. And, with that, I will be up to participate in the half marathon in Vermont at the end of the month. I'm more than a little unhappy about that but sometimes that's how the bone breaks.

Actually, it reminds me of an old joke:
Patient: Doctor, I broke my arm in three places.
Doctor: Well, I'd recommend staying out of those places then.

That joke is probably good advice that I stay off the trails and on the roads for quite a while. If I'm going to be serious about running I need to take better care of myself. It's not my favorite type of wake-up call, but that's how life is sometimes.

So, there likely won't be a whole lot of in the next couple of weeks as I'll likely be walking just to keep my fitness at a decent level.

Any suggestions from the runners for what to do during an injury?

4 comments:

Maddy said...

Oh No! I'm sorry to hear about your accident.

It's tough to come up with a cross training activity that doesn't include your shoulder. My first thought was swimming, but that's out...

Walking might be your best option - and you can get your miles to count for the most miles in September ;-)

I hope you have a speedy recovery!

Susan said...

No advice here, but a story:

Three years ago while running on a trail near my home (with my dog) I tripped and nearly knocked myself out! As I was trying to stay conscious (feeling woozy, I mean) guess who walked up to help? MY OWN DOCTOR. Divine intervention, I say. She walked me all the way home.

CewTwo said...

Yep! Wear the Nike+ chip to bed and run in your dreams! Maybe it'll count!

Seriously, though, take care.

As I run the street, I've been asked why I watch the street ahead of me. It is a bad habit but I think it come from trail running. I like to place my feet in a safe path. It doesn't always work, though. I was running down the Jenny Creek trail one weekend when I came up to the creek. I could have run in the water, but chose to follow a foot path that climbed a short hill to get around it. I didn't want to lose my footing so I watched my feet very carefully! I was pretty surprised when one tree branch smacked me in the chest and the other smacked me in the face. I was knocked to the ground before I knew it!

Thankfully, the only thing truly bruised was my ego. I sat up slowly taking inventory and finding myself to be OK (aside from a couple of contusion points). The next thing I did was glance around to see if anyone saw it. Phew! No one else was about as a witness to my back-country stupidity.

Don't forget, though, that I wear a wrist watch type of FRS radio when I run with someone monitoring it from the Jeep. I would have been OK, but what happens in the woods, stays in the woods! At least, until you admit to it on a blog!

Greg - Get better soon!

peter said...

I'm just getting over a foot injury (stepped in a hidden hole) halfway through my marathon training. I just had to wait it out (3 weeks) and nopw I'm back to training again. Your time will come, you just have to be patient and get better. You wouldn't have gotten hurt if you weren't out there, which is to say, if you were fat and lazy and immobile you'd be fine. So be glad you live as you do and just wait it out. It's hard!