Dog Gone It!

Now, I have two jack russells terriers, so I never thought one would lead to my downfall, literally. On my 8 mile run today, I had a fall. I was running around the pond on the running path, doing pretty well too. At the end of my pond section, I came up on a woman walking her jack russell, a cute little short legged/smooth coat, that I had met before. He was on a retractable leash, d'oh! Those things are horrendous, they don't teach the dog boundaries and they are potential hazards for cyclists, roller bladers, and yes, runners. I moved to the outside to go around, and the dog bound for something and tripped me up. Normally, I would have deked to the side and been ok, but we're in the middle of Noah's flood with this big thaw. So, all the water has created a lot of mud, which I slipped on, scraping my left leg. And now, apparently, I did more damage, not realizing it at the time. When I fell, my right foot caught a rock and planted, I didn't notice cuz I was so focused on the scrapes in the left leg. So, I finished the run and came home, muddy and ticked off.

Then I gathered materials and started my trek around Jamaica Plain. I went fundraising today at local businesses. It was ok, a couple soft commitments, and a lot of "I'll pass this to the owner" so we'll see what comes of it. I'm hopeful, the business community in JP is pretty amenable to good causes. Anyway, as the walk progressed, I felt more and more soreness behind my right knee. That's when I remembered that my right leg had planted when I fell, bingo! Anyway, I've consulted with my physician father, and though he's not here to examine, he says it sounds like something minor, luckily, the knee is not something to be messed with. That means, I'll be icing it all night(off and on), stretching tomorrow with applied heat, being very aware of it over the next couple of days, and...not running 13 miles tomorrow. That's the one that gets me for a couple reasons. First, I was going to run half of the real Boston Marathon course tomorrow, and I was psyched for it. Second, it stinks to not be able to run, it's driving me mad, and it's a day away. When you can run, sometimes you don't want to, and sometimes you don't, and you feel a bit guilty. But when I can't, whether due to schedule or injury, it drives me nuts! Please keep my knee in your thoughts, and hope that my dad is right, and please, please no retractable leashes for your dogs.

Have a good rest of the weekend!