Road tripping

Take a good look at the above photo. That is the enemy. I think the theory behind making construction fencing like that a bright orange color is so that it's easily visible. Well, when the sun has set and you're running on a lakefront path with no lighting besides the moon, it turns out this type of fence is invisible.

I had just gone over 17 miles and was moving at a decent pace on my way to 20 last night. I had to start the long run when the sun was already setting due to a rare weekend day shift I drew for work. So, by the time I was 17 miles in, it was dark and I was finishing up my run near our condo along the lake.

Apparently, the city is doing some sort of construction on the path I frequent, though you couldn't really see as much in the dark. Running full speed -- probably at about an 8:30 per mile clip at that point -- I met up with a waist-high orange construction fence that came out of nowhere. My legs went right into the fence and my upper body was thrown toward the pavement.

Fortunately, I have pretty good reflexes. I was able to get my arms up just before my face hit the concrete. I was rolling around on the ground -- I think one foot still tangled in the fence -- in agonizing pain, trying to figure out what just happened. It wasn't one of the situations where I saw the fence at the last second and braced myself.

I was on the ground, and I didn't know how I got there. It wasn't until the pain let up some that I got it together and saw I was laying on the other side of this fence. I could've easily knocked my teeth out or hit my head. Instead, I wound up with some cuts on both arms, a swollen left knee, a cut on my left ankle and a really sore back the morning after.

I stayed on the ground for a few minutes, moaning in pain with the wind knocked out of me. Not what you want to happen at any point in a run -- let alone a 20-mile long run. Once I got up and walked a little, realizing I hadn't seriously injured myself (thank you God!), I decided I had come too far to quit because of a stupid fall.

So I turned around and walked/jogged/ran until I finally completed the 20 miles. At a little over 18 miles, I was right by my condo and I nearly quit and went home due to the pain I was in. I actually stopped and started walking home, but after a few steps, I snapped out of that mindset and continued the run.

All in all, while running in below freezing temps, with double layers on my upper and lower body, running on top of snow and ice for much of the path, and after enduring that nasty spill and the really slow 3 miles that followed, I finished the 20 miles in 3 hours, 8 minutes. Considering all the circumstances, I was thrilled to have simply finished.

For the first 10 miles, I ran at an 8:38 pace, and that's including two walking breaks to drink some gatorade. I didn't stop and rest at all during the run -- minus the laying on the ground in pain moment. I kept moving forward and used four walking breaks to refuel. After the fall, though, my times of 10:59/13:28/9:46 to finish the 20 really killed my overall time.

It's good that this week is a lighter week running wise. I need some time to regroup from the general soreness from that run, along with time to heal up some from the fall. If I feel as sore tomorrow as I do today, I may not do the nine mile easy run I'm scheduled to do. Then again, I didn't let a scary spill stop me from finishing on Sunday.

Stay tuned for more...