RunningBlog: An Accident

An Accident
No, it wasn’t me. I headed out this morning for a short jog around the neighborhood, and I headed up Wilson Street towards Newtown as I usually do. I felt pretty good. The sun was shining and it was cool but not cold. My hamstrings were a little sore from my workout at Spudds yesterday. (He made us do hill sprints.) I felt like I was moving at a faster pace than normal though. I came to the one big hill on Wilson and started powering up it. As I neared the top (and the next cross-street), I looked up to make sure no one was coming around the corner… just in time to see a girl at the corner fall to the ground hard. I tore off my headphones and sprinted up to her. A guy coming down the hill on a bike got there first. “Are you okay?” we asked her. She’d rolled herself against the wall of the house on the corner and was clutching an obviously bloody knee. She was in workout clothes, and she seemed pretty shocked and out of it. The guy said something about running to get a first aid kit, and I said I’d stay with her. He took off. So I stood there with her, dripping with sweat and feeling pretty useless. Other people stopped by to ask if they could do anything. “I think it’s cut really deep,” she said. “I swear I saw white. It could be bone.” I tried to be comforting and point out there’s no way she cut herself down to her kneecap on the sidewalk. From what I could gather, she wasn’t out for a run like I was; instead she’d been on her way home from the gym. I wondered to myself whether she might have been a bit dehydrated, or even have low blood sugar if she hadn’t eaten before her workout. The guy came back with the kit and set about cleaning her up with iodine. As expected, it was just a skinned knee. “I hate to leave you,” I eventually said, “but I’m going to be late for work if I don’t move!” She thanked me for staying with her, and with a wave I headed off. I finished the run and made it home.

I’ve read horror stories on running blogs about runners having accidents or getting hit by cars. I’m such a clumsy person in general, I figure it’s only a matter of time before it happens to me. Hopefully I got some good karma from the incident today, and if I’m ever in her situation, somebody will stop and help me too.