Long Run Tuesday - In Which I Fall Down

Happy Passover to those who celebrate.  Since I have the day off, I had some time to fill.  I started off my getting my car's oil changed, then making breakfast and taking a morning nap.  In the afternoon, I decided I'd head over to the lakes for a run.  Even though I fell down last week, and then again the next day I decided I needed to be outside, and I needed a long run since I have to run a half marathon in not too long.

I picked running around the lakes because my route was the least likely to give me any trouble.  I could run on a bikeway to the lakes, and then on the trails around the lakes.  Everything, in theory, should have been clear.  On the bike way I stayed on the south-facing side walks.  Sidewalks were mostly clear except for a couple massive puddles where I ran in the street.  The trails around the lakes were similarly mostly clear except for one massive puddle at Lake Calhoun and a bit of a clusterf!ck between Calhoun and Harriet.

The run: Since the longest I've run in a long time is seven miles and this route is 11-12 miles, I decided to do intervals.  I'm all about the injury prevention.  I ran 5:00 and walked 2:00 pretty much the whole time.  I was sure to run 14:00 together to make sure I could count my "mile" of running without stopping.  The thing about intervals which no one told me ahead of time is I get really cold during the 'walks'.  Today I ran in sweat pants, wool socks, long sleeve shirt, arm sleeves (from my second Twin Cities Marathon), wind proof vest, gloves some of the time and an ear band (from my most recent TCM).  I was hotter than blue blazes to begin with but the minute I hit the lakes, the wind picked up and I was glad for all the protection I had.  It was about 40* and 7-10 mph winds.  It was a really good run.  I took the 'run' sections faster than a typical long run pace so I could earn the walks.  I basically kept a 12:30 pace, even with walks, until my spectacular acrobatics right before mile 10.

The fall: I totally tanked, for the third time this month, a my second fall on a City of Minneapolis sidewalk.  This time it wasn't ice but uneven payment that sent my flying.  I literally went head over heals on this one.  Dirt was every where.  I screamed while I was falling and a guy walking near by stopped to help me.  The most awesome proof of the fall is the dirt on my Camelbak from where I rolled over it.  Proof I really was head over heals.

I took gymnastics when I was younger and we started every time with safety rolls and safety drops which taught us to protect our heads, backs and wrists during a fall.  Thank you to all my coaches because I think I came out of this fall in better shape than the first fall, despite the somersault and other acrobatics.

Ultimately, even with the fall, I managed a pretty good pace for such long walk breaks, and stopping to take so many pictures.  The first mile is always slow because I'm still getting myself arranged, pants tied up, etc.  Mile 9 involved waiting for a long stop light, mile 10 was the fall, and mile 12 was a cool down mile.

As I alluded to, I did take lots of pictures on this run. The ones of Lake Harriet and the bandshell didn't turn out quite as well. All of my walking periods at the lake were in the wooded areas where there were lots of trees and not too much scenic. I had much better luck at Lake Calhoun. The sky was also pretty spectacular by the time I got over there.
 

Bottom right: Is Minneapolis the only place that has these Little Free Libraries?  I see them all over the place when I run or bike around.  This one is a couple blocks from my house, but there are some others closer to the lakes I saw too.

When I got home, I decided to give my legs a break.  I found that $80 pair of compression shorts I got at the Nike Outlet for $20, threw those on, along with my calf compression sleeves and said a prayer that my leg didn't re-bruise.  Not sure about the leg but the shoulder was definitely not improved by the fall.  Fingers crossed but the ankle seems fine for the moment.  My hand and my knee stopped feeling like hamburger shortly after I got home and calmed down.