Skateboarders!

On Friday I was run over by a skateboarder. True story.
Now wait, I hear you asking, what does this have to do with running?! I'll get to it, I promise! But first, back to the skateboarder.
I was heading home from work and hit a cross-path in the sidewalk. I saw him coming and stopped to wait. He saw me stopped and (I think) assumed I was about to cut in front of him, so he swerved right into me. BOOM! We collided, and down I went with him landing on top of me.
In the movies the heroine would have some quip to say that would make viewers laugh. In reality, I lay there and tried to catch my breath while doing a mental tally for injuries (and trying to decide if I'd ripped my favourite pair of work pants in the fall...thank goodness I hadn't!), then started crying from the shock. Fortunately, outside of some scrapes and minor whiplash, I was okay. Badly shaken, but rather uninjured. Once I had recovered*, I went on my [less than merry] way.

Fast forward to Sunday. My co-leader is racing this morning in her half marathon, so is unable to come to the group run. I'm not so keen to go myself, as my right neck is super stiff and sore. But I'm committed! At the very least, I tell myself, I'll meet up with everyone and send them on their way. But then I think, maybe the run will do me some good. I'll just start with everyone, take it slow and easy, and see what happens. And besides, it's not my legs that are sore! Off I head to the Running Room store to meet my group. One of the clinic members showed up, and two more runners joined us for the 6k slow run. Now, my original plan was to lead the group on the 6k, then turn around and run another 7k to make up my distance of 13k (the distance the full marathon group was doing today). That was before the skateboarder.

The first few kms of the run were uncomfortable - my bruised legs were feeling the jolt of impact, and my neck ached fiercely. But then things started to get better and calm down. My neck even loosened up! That being said, I did decide at the end of the 6k that I didn't want to push it. I was worried that if I did too much, that would cause me to stiffen up further. So, no 13k run for me today. Just a nice easy 6k recovery run.

Total distance: 5.97km
Time: 41.26min
Pace: 6.57min/km
Average heart rate: 153bpm (79% of max)


*The skateboarder did stay to make sure I was okay, and as the event was witnessed by two of my work colleagues and a nurse coming off shift, I was well looked after.