No tripping hazards here nope not at all.
How to fall with grace, with pizazz? No, I do not mean how to fall in love that is a different blog. What I mean is how to fall while you are running. I should know I have had some spectacular falls while training. My very first full marathon I had a run in with a curb. A curb that I knew was there. Ok so confession time. That was not my first run in with a curb. My very first was when I was so young and running across the street by my friend’s house. I have no idea what we were running to or why this happened but that was quite the fall. My mouth connected with the curb and boy was that painful. My friends father helped me up and called my mother and told her “Terri has had a traumatoid.” Due to the fact I was the youngest of four children and this was not my mums first rodeo, so instead of rushing to my side as you would the first child, my mother was too busy laughing because the word traumatoid was hilarious to her and proceeded to use it frequently. Oh, great my mouth hurts now.
As you can imagine curbs are my nemesis! So anyways back to my marathon training. Just 10 days away from the marathon I fell again at the curb this time my knees took the brunt of that fall. I freaked my freak out. Was not sure what I should do. My bones did not break but my knees were bloody. This occurred during one of my sunrise runs before work. Hence, I proceeded to get ready and wore a dress to keep fabric off my knees and went to work. As luck would have it my boss at that time had been a trainer and was more than helpful getting me back to running. She was super supportive of my running, and she was one of the first calls I made when I finished the race.
Oh, wait there are more falls! Another time I was training for a series of races that were in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park. I tumbled on a brick walkway. That time it took me out of the race. I had to call someone to pick me up since my leg, shall we say, was a bit out of commission.
Since my name is not Grace but Terri I had to learn how to fall. And I did! What works for me may not work for you but again while training for a marathon I met with an uneven sidewalk and as I am prone to do I hit it and down I was going. But this time I flipped in midair intentionally to protect my legs. I landed in the Devil strip on my back and only my hands were a bit bruised and scrapped. I really wish I had that on tape. It had to be hilarious to see.
Ok so a few things here.
1. Am I obsessed with protecting my legs for marathons?
2. Are using my hands to take the hit which I need to work with, cook, pet animals and and and a promising idea?
3. Are my priorities a bit skewed? Possibly.
What I do know, and I have learned this from an actual trainer and teacher from a fancy college taught me is that having a strong core and lifting weights are the best thing for you as you age and train. Strength training can increase bone density and reduce the risk of osteoporosis. That is a science back fact.
So, as I train for a half marathon this fall (more to come on that) I will continue to protect my short slow legs in addition to strength training. Because we all know that falling is what I do. Acceptance is key here.