Summer Knee in Feb

Yep... I have a skinned knee and a leg full of road rash. It is highly unusually to have skinned knees in Feb in Michigan but I have managed it. Out for a morning run on one of my usual loops. A couple of days before the path had been clear. All snow had been plowed and everything was still pretty cold. Then... a warm snap. A lot of melting has occurred in the last few days. So snow turned to water and covered the side walk and then over night the temp dipped and water turned to ice. I had already done a lap with no mishaps. I knew where the danger spots were. Enter another runner, a friendly runner, a talker. We were passing each other and he said a few words, I answered and was thinking more about the conversation than the terrain. WRONG MOVE.

You know how lots of times when you slip on ice you seem to go down in slow motion. Not this time. I was eating pavement before it even registered that I'd slipped on the ice. I jumped up just as fast even though my brain was thinking I might be really hurt. I limped a few steps before realized I was going to be okay.

The minute I got home the dog was all over my knee. Another indication I might not like what I saw when I got my pants off. The dog was right. I had some pretty nasty vertical gouges across my knee and down my leg. It looked like I had tried to slide into second base. Well, if I didn't know how to slide.

Throughout the day my muscles on the left side of my body started to tighten up. I was glad my husband had brought me some Advil. But I'm trying not to think about the injury too much. Why? Because I have another run in the morning.