Water Running
Sadly poor Jo was a victim of a low life vandal and was stuck waiting for a rear windshield replacement and wasn’t able to meet me today. I was also earlier that usual owing to the fact that I had to start work at the ungodly hour of 630am, at least this meant I was able to knock off just after 3pm.
Today’s session was relatively easy, if not a little boring -
5 minute warm up
45 minutes tempo
Total – 50 minutes.
The plan did call for 5 minutes of stretching between the warm up and the session proper. But if you think I am getting out of a pool and doing stretches at the pool side in my bathers you’ve got another think coming sunshine, ’twas never gonna happen, so I jumped right into the tempo session after the warm up.
I did contemplate stopping to pick up the iPod on the way home but changed my mind in favour of just getting to the pool and getting stuck in. I thought it would be mind numbing but it was bearable, I just didn’t look at my watch, and not wearing specs in the pool I couldn’t keep watching the clock on the wall. By the time I did check the watch there were only 9 minutes left 
Em gets a Reality Check
I had another “moment” this morning when I started to feel a tad sorry for myself, helped along by the fact that I was starting work an hour earlier than usual and was just a little depressed by the fact that it was bloody early and bloody cold and on the walk to the office from Fed Square I kept being passed BY BLOODY RUNNERS!!!!! And yes, given a choice, despite the cold and dark I’d have been out there like a shot.
I was starting work early as I needed to switch some service numbers over to our new call routing technology (Yawwwwn, boring shop talk) and was sitting in teleconference for about 2 hours. There was a fair bit of down time so I was flicking though the new US Runners World that turned up in the mail yesterday. There was an article about an Ultra Runner, Danelle Ballengee who had a very nasty accident just before Christmas last year. I had not heard of her but I know all about her now, before her accident she was one of the top female ultra runners/athletes in the world.
If you want to know more just follow the link up there. In summary though she headed out for a trail run in the desert and took a nasty 60 foot fall, this resulted in a broken pelvis, well from the description shattered seems like a more appropriate description and nasty internal injuries. She lay in the desert for close to 3 days before she was found, remember this was winter and it was getting to -6 degrees C overnight, remember also that she was super fit and had very little body fat to insulate her.
In the end rescuers came looking and her gorgeous dog ended up leading them to her. Much more loyalty that I would ever expect from my cats, no doubt if I ever had a fall at home by the time dinner time arrived they would have a short conference say “well, she’s fucked, wanna eat her?”
Anyway, the article made me cry and it was like someone giving me a smack across that back of my head and telling me to smarten my self up. I WILL run again, there is absolutely no doubt about that, it will happen and it will happen soon. Unlike Danelle who faces endless months of rehab and doubt about whether or not she will be able to run again, let alone be competitive again.
I have no business feeling sorry for myself and have well and truly gotten over myself today.
man was it cold getting in and out of that outdoor pool today..i heard on the radio it was 10 degrees..brrrrrr..see you in a few days
Comment by runjanerun — June 13, 2007 @ 7:18 pm
Perspective is a funny thing Em – healthy to get some but also ok to feel disappointed for our own dramas in life, as long as we don’t let them get the better of us, which you don’t (not for long anyway!)
As i often say to clients who tell me their woes and then feel they must add the obligatory “Oh well, i guess there is people worse off”. “Yes, there is people worse off, but it doesn’t make your problems any less a reality that you have to deal with. If you have your leg cut off, it’s good to be greatful you’ve got one leg left, but nonetheless, you’re still hopping!”
Comment by joey — June 13, 2007 @ 8:59 pm
That’s an amazing story.
Isn’t it weird how much you notice other runners when you can’t run yourself. It feels like everyone is out there running but you.
Comment by kathrynoh — June 13, 2007 @ 11:01 pm
As usual Em, catching up on your blog has been great for a chuckle and for pulling me out of my fog about my running (or lack of…) I look forward to reading that RW article too… I agree with both your perspective and Joey’s comment above… No matter what, coping with injury when you’re usually so active and so passionate about something is never going to be easy… but we just have to hang in there, remain as positive as possible and know that we will ‘be back’… I think that since I’ve stopped pushing so hard to get back as quickly as possible, things have improved… go figure!
Take care, MAR.
Comment by Vicky — June 14, 2007 @ 11:02 am