"It's a treat being a runner, out in the world by yourself with not a soul to make you bad-tempered or tell you what to do." - Allan Sillitoe


Tuesday, September 8, 2009

A minor setback

Had to come sooner or later ...

Had an accident on the scooter last night coming home in the rain.  When I decided I was going to ride the scooter when I started working again, I also decided that I wouldn't ride in the rain.  A combination of an incorrect weather forecast (rain was supposed to be gone by the afternoon), needing to get home before Rox had to take Ben out, a d!ckhead in a 4WD braking for no reason and my own stupidity combined to see me dumped on the road out the front of the WACA last night.

The positive of it I guess is that unlike the other accident I had where it was dry and I tried to keep the scooter upright and ended up twisting an ankle and wrenching my back, this time the scooter went straight out from under me.  The downside of that is that I went straight down onto my right shoulder and chest.  Rolled off the road so that I didn't get run over convinced that I had at least broken a rib.

I wasn't going fast and was well back from the car in front so didn't actually hit anything.  A couple of cars stopped and people got out to help and three police officers came out from the Perth Watch House.  They helped me get the scooter off the road and took me in for a cup of tea.

I've lost a bit of skin off both knees, mainly my right and have got some deep bruising I think on my ribs on the right hand side.  My right shoulder is a bit stiff and sore too.  Because I went straight down I managed to avoid any defensive wounds to my hands and the major damage was to the suitpants I was wearing which are torn and ruined.  My parka protected the jacket very well.

Dosed up on panadol and anti inflammatories.  Still dragged myself out for an 8.4km recovery run this morning (44 mins, HR 135) and am hoping to do my interval session this afternoon.  It's not too painful, more a discomfort when I run as the muscle moves over the rib cage.  Can't see running causing any damage and probably good to keep the blood flowing so I'm planning on gritting my teeth and sticking it out.  Only 3 weeks until the taper, can't afford time off now.

Only other complicating factor might be work.  I've been given something extra to work on so hope I can get away in time.  Took the bus today so it will be bus home, grab car, out to stadium.

3 comments:

Epi said...

Sorry to hear about the accident.

I gave up riding a scooter a couple of years back after too many close calls and a couple of people I knew had bad accidents.

Hope it doesn't affect your final training weeks too badly - you seem to be in fine form at present.

DC64 said...

Glad to hear you're OK. You're braver than me riding one of those in Perth!
Take it easy for a few days, and let yourself recover - you won't lose anything. Funny how runners will accept any injuries - as long as it's not the legs!

Jen Feeny said...

OMG!!! I'm glad you're alright! Take it easy there killer, don't push yourself too hard. You've got your base and there's no use killing yourself over the miles. Take care!