Turkey Trotting into a Pothole

Hi Delicious-

Our first Thanksgiving here in Cincinnati, two years ago, we were on our way up to Hamilton to have the Big Meal with family and crossing the River from Kentucky into Ohio I saw thousands of people in a race.  It looked like so much fun and made sense to run right before doing all that eating!  I declared that I wanted to do that.  That was when I ran as exercise...maybe twice a week for 30 minutes and never seriously, as a chore.  Now that I run so regularly and have found that I love it for more than just exercise I remembered that race and was so excited to sign up this year. 

Especially when I found out that this race was the 100th annual running which made it the 6th oldest in the country and at 17,000 registrants, the largest Thanksgiving 10k!

I should have remembered however that 17000 people running means at least 20000 parking and walking around Paul Brown Stadium where it started and finished.  I'm not a fan of groups of people under the best circumstances but a chilly morning when I'm wanting to run?  Even less.  After FINALLY finding parking, getting my race number (don't wait til the day of, ever!) and depositing my warm sweater back in the car I TRIED to get to the start but that in itself was a hassle of a chore.  Finally making it to a place where I could at least stand without being sandwiched between people I had 4 minutes until the start.  When it started I don't know but it was supposed to be 9am.  By the time I got to the actual starting line and could even begin a slow jog it was 9:10.  The first two miles were basically a jockeying for space.  There were walkers and strollers and people with dogs and people power walking.  By mile 2 I feel like I had just gotten my stride and was getting into it about to go over the bridge to the Kentucky side and I went down.

My left foot got caught in a pothole and twisted mercilessly and my right knee caught my fall.  My phone went flying and two people were nice enough to stop and help me up and I told them to keep running.  I limped over to the side of the bridge, trying to get out of people's way and simultaneously NOT bust out crying.  My pants had a tear at the knee and the knee was bloody.  But the left ankle felt like it was going to bust out of my sneaker.  So I had two choices:  I could sit on the side and cry like a baby and then have to walk back to my car anyway, OR I could just try to get through the rest of the race and deal with the sprain after.  I'm dumb and I chose to finish that damn race.  That pothole didn't own me.  So I started walking on or, more acurately, hobbling and that hurt like a bitch.  From my previous shin splints I know once you get running it usually feels better so I started to sort of power walk and then go into a slow jog.  By the time I looked up I was at Mile 3.  I was halfway so I fast jogged most of the rest of the way.  Sometimes I got distracted by the fact that I could see that my ankle was swollen but since I had to get back to the car, I figured might as well do it this way.  And I did, I finished that stupid race running across the finish line and then limped to my car.  No water, no bananas, I just wanted to get home and take my shoe off.  With stopping and crying and walking and slow jogging I finished in 1:19 which really pisses me off cuz I was looking for a good time this go round. 

I guess I should stick to looking at the ground and my feet when I run...