As the descent ended, we were on a dirt road with a slight downhill grade that lead into Helvetia Aid station at 19mi mark. The surface appeared to have been scraped off and then compacted down. The little white-gray rocks embedded in the road surface matched the color of the dirt. Another runner in dark clothes was near me, and we were moving along. We were about a mile or so from Helvetia. There were no dropbags at Helvetia. So, I was thinking about what I needed to do at Helvetia. I decided I needed to cap-off my two water bottles, grab some PB&J, Gummi Baren and a cup of either coke or sportsdrink. Then I would back off on my pace a little bit for the first 0.5mi or mile out of Helvetia to let the stomach settle. Then resume my pace heading toward the next climb. Sounded like a good plan. It was a beautiful day weather-wise and I was really happy with how the run had gone so far. I had arrived to the event well-rested and well-trained.
Around the 18mi mark, out of nowhere, I became airborn. I had caught one of those little white rocks which was portruding above the road surface a little bit. I tried to save it but could not. In that split second, the terrible realization occurred that I was going to hit the ground with a lot of forward momentum. I flew forward and when I hit the road, my right elbow and knee took the brunt of the fall. There were a lot of those little embedded rocks in spot where I landed. When I tried to get up, I felt a cramp want to take hold in my right calf.
The runner in the dark clothes grabbed my arm and helped me up. He said "that hurt just watching it" . I told him I was okay and that it looked worse than it felt. I was lying, because it did hurt. But when I fall down, an adrenaline rush just takes over and my initial response is to pretend nothing happened an to keep going. ( I was once hit by a pickup truck while riding a bicycle. I was thrown off the bike and hit the road. I was wearing a helmet so when my head hit the road it was protected. But my clothes were torn and I had lots of road rash. After admonishing the truck driver for driving in the bike lane, I tried to get back on my bicycle and keep riding. Fortunately witnesses stopped me and took my bike from me and called the police. The truck driver was held responsible for the accident. ).
A quick inspection showed a very bloody elbow and a bloody knee. I walked some steps to clear my head. Nothing seemed broken. Then I resumed running. This was the worst fall in terms of broken skin and blood that I’ve taken on the trails. It was a mile or less to Helvetia . The runner said to me "There is a saying that has been posted to many lists that goes: If God did not intend for us to run on the trails, then he would not have given us so many teeth". I laughed and it made me grateful that the fall had not been a face plant.
Soon runners from the group I had been running with to Gunsight started arriving, including Wayne. None of them had seen the fall, because it happened after I had rounded a bit of a bend in the road. A runner in an orange shirt went by me, and then caught a rock and fell down. I did not feel so bad now, these little white rocks were tricky and sneaky. He suffered some broken skin on his forearm. He got up and continued running with the group.
Reaching Helvetia, it was around 3:35 (elapsed time) into the run. I had my water bottles capped-off, ate some PB&J, gummi baren , and drank two cups of coke. I then got a wet paper towel and wiped off the blood from my elbow and knee. The cuts and abrasions looked worse to me now, than they had when I inspected them after falling. I told the aidstation people I was okay, and wanted to continue on. One volunteer pointed to a notch on the horizon, and said that is where we were heading. Sounded good to me. The little bit of time I spent standing still at Helvetia, allowed my knee to start stiffening up .
Leaving Helvetia., the knee hurt to get going again so I walked some. I felt really bad, like the bottom had fallen out.. In retrospect I must have been in some sort of shock. I watched as the group of runners I had been with dashed off into the distance one by one . It was a long flat stretch. I thought I had not taken any more photos after I fell, but when the film came back from processing it turns out I had taken one more photo in this stretch. |
