Sierra and I met up with Homie for a seemingly routine run up Green at 5:30 this morning. After crossing the bridge to start up the Amphitheater Trail, I tripped and injured myself in such a stupid way that I still can’t entirely figure out exactly what happened as I run it over and over again in my mind.
Somehow, I think my left foot slipped, causing my right foot to almost simultaneously stumble stub into a solid rock, which lurched my torso down and forward into my right knee. It was one of those really hard impacts, akin to crashing over the handlebars of your bike onto the pavement where it knocks the wind out of you and you can feel and taste a surge of pain rush through your head.
I jumped up quickly and in shock trying to catch my breath, embarrassed to take a digger in front of Homie, yet glad he was there at the same time. I knew right away that I had hurt myself, but I was now pumped with adrenaline and still wanted to get up Green. I spent the entire trip up Amphitheater/Saddle/Greenman assessing my condition and reasoned that if I keep my torso still in just the right position, I would be OK. Breathing was a bit labored, especially if I tried to take a deep breath and it hurt whenever I turned or twisted to look behind me.
We made the summit in 38:47 (avg HR 152), shattering Homie’s PR, so I was really stoked for him, but I was a little nervous about the downhill. I was relieved that the impact of the down did not really hurt, but going downhill required more body movement and contorting, so I just took it super cautious.
As I sit here now, I am finding that it hurts to twist, turn, bend, sit, stand, cough, laugh, sneeze, talk, breath etc…… basically it hurts existing. I did a little online research and am convinced that I have a bruised sternum (not broken though, as I think I would experiencing much more significant pain). I am hoping it heals up quick, but have read that it could easily take a month, so I am not quite sure how this will affect my daily mountain runs.
