We’ve been seeing our fair share of more winter weather lately and again it’s been impeding my running routine.  Last week we had a lovely ice strom which kept me and Rocky inside for two days.  By Thursday both of us were chomping at the bit to get outside.

I got in a short run and it was so nice! I had my YakTrax on and took a completely slow and cautious 3.5 mile run around the neighborhood.  Then I was able to take Rocky out and walk him.  He slipped a few times but we were able to make it around the neighborhood without too much issue.

Friday I took the day off as I was tired and a tad sore from MT conditioning class the day before.  Saturday I was going to run again but we again had a day of really nasty weather.  It was snowing/freezing raining for the majority of the day.

Today I was determined to get out and get some miles in.  It was warm outside this morning, 30 degrees.  Hooray!  Out the door I went and was cruising along ready to bust out 8 miles.  I was on the road because the sidewalks were a little slick.  The guy delivering the Sunday paper had his truck parked in the middle of the street.  I was kind of forced to go on the sidewalk because I didn’t want to run around an idling vehicle (safety first gang!). I was trying to hurry a bit so I could pass the guy before we intersected on the sidewalk.

I hopped the curb, cleared the grass and just stepped down on the sidewalk when WHOOSH and I was on the ground.

I felt myself lose balance and was thinking that I could get it back but my feet wiped out and I slammed down on the sidewalk on my right side.  The paper guy asked me if I was okay and I said I was.

Stupid ice! It was really thin and I didn’t even see it on the sidewalk.  My right knee took most of the damage. I checked it out and it was only slightly red. I was going to finish my 8 miles but I knew Scott would be ticked off at me if I did. I knew the exact conversation we would have had about it too:

Scott: So you fell and your right knee slammed against frozen concrete and you felt that you still needed to run 8 miles?

Me: Um, yes.

And then I would have been on the receiving end of the Scott Stink Eye.  I decided to avoid that and compromise.

I ran 5 miles instead.

My leg started getting a little stiff on that last mile so it was good that I didn’t keep going longer than that.  I came home, showered, and then put some muscle oil all over my knee.  Took some ibuprofen and now I’m just hanging out.

Have you ever tripped or slipped on ice while out running?