Sunday morning Coffee and Chat

Sunday, January 25, 2015 · Mike Davis

Good morning! Here in New Hampshire it appears that the snow has arrived! Yesterday’s snow seemed almost blizzard like compared to what we have had so far, but if the forecast for Monday into Tuesday is accurate, a full-fledged blizzard is a coming. While we got around 6 inches yesterday, it wasn’t the amount that mattered for me because all it took was that initial road cover. Read on for the details… Yesterday I drove my truck all of less than a quarter mile to our Saturday morning run so that I could get some errands done right after the run and before the brunt of the snow came. I wasn’t sure who would show up as the snow had started to fall and the conditions would be an easy deterrent. Lew got there just ahead of me and we were both kind of hoping that we would be it, but about 8:20 Andrew came in so the run was on. At exactly 8:30 we headed out for what we decided would be a 4 mile easy run. About a half mile in Andrew stopped us and pointed at Meghan trying to catch us, so we stopped and waited on her. Meg told us that she came late because of the driving conditions and that Marie was with her but was parking the truck. I let the 3 of them go on and doubled back to meet Marie. I made it all the way back to Juicy Roots and apparently Marie had struck off in another direction so I decided to reverse the route I knew the other 3 were running so I could meet up with them. I did meet with them and we continued on together. Instead of stay straight on Court I told them we should turn so we could add a little more to our run. By that time the snow was coming down pretty good, but with no wind it was really quite enjoyable. Andrew swung us through the cemetery and that was a nice detour and then we pulled out of there and headed down a slight hill that runs into Center Ave. Well yours truly lost his footing on the snow covered road and went down hard! I don’t exactly recall the landing but I was pretty shaken up and apparently I landed head first because my head was ringing pretty badly! Lew came over quickly and told me to stay down and at that point I am not sure I could have gotten up. I honestly have no recall of the actual fall but not wanting to stay on the ground I got up after a few minutes and Lew informed me that I did not look good. Blood seemed to be dripping pretty good from my forehead, just above my eye. Now Andrew and Meg were with us and despite me trying to assure them that I was okay, they all were telling me that I wasn’t. We all walked for a while and finally I convinced Meg and Andrew to run back and that I was okay with Lew. Lew was really good as he kept hold of my arm and guided me back. We stopped at a gas station and Lew was able to get some paper towels and when I whipped down my forehead I could now see there was a lot of blood! We got back to Juicy Roots where Marie had her truck ready to take me to the hospital and Andrew was going to follow with my truck. What a great team! Jumping ahead, the emergency room people were great and with Lew at my side they put between 8 and 18 stitches in my forehead down to my eye lid. The number of stitches is at question because I thought they said 18 and Lew thought 8. Lew is probably closer to right. During the time with the Physician Assistant we struck up a conversation about running and low and behold she was a runner and had run the most recent Seacoast half marathon. We talked about our NFLR Coaching & Endurance Resource Center and she was quite interested. Lew was Johnny on the spot, pulling out a business card and giving one to my seamstress. Very ironic because we attempted to put up a flyer for the open house at this very same hospital but their rules prevented us. Now we were having a great conversation about all the runners who worked at the hospital and that it would be great to get them over to “the center.” When Lew and I were alone I commented that there may be some good that comes out of this trip to the emergency room after all. LOL, whatever it takes to get the word out! So now I look like something from “The Night of the Living Dead,” bandages around my head, left eye swollen and red around it. They did run a cat scan and found nothing, but my wife could have told them that! Speaking of my wife, when I finally spoke with her, she didn’t let me down by her first comment being something about me not wearing Yaktrax. Most definitely this fall would most likely would not have happened had I been wearing Yaktrax so her comments were justified. Will I wear them in the future? While it would seem safe and smart, I am not so sure that I will. Yaktrax are great tools for safer running but the idea of having something on my shoes that isn’t great when on anything but ice and snow doesn’t appeal to me. I understand that what happened yesterday could happen again because of conditions we constantly face around here, but for me I am more apt to take the risk and be as careful as possible instead. Would I advise others to wear Yaktrax? Absolutely, but that is an individual decision. Honestly as the owner of “No Finish Line Running,” I should have asked those that showed up to forego running yesterday and not risk the potential hazards. I am grateful that it was me and not one of the others because I would have felt responsible and with that comes a great deal of risk. I won’t say unequivocally that I will never wear Yaktrax so there may be hope for me yet! I have some selfies that I took while in the waiting room and they are pretty scary. I would much rather come up with a story about me and a bear meeting during my run or that I chased down a couple purse snatchers, but instead I figured I would write about my own misfortune. While I will have marks for a while to remind me, I will not let them deter me from winter running. I will take a few days off and let my body heal and then be back out on the road. I am sure I will be a little conservative at first but eventually I will run on and hopefully run smartly. There are lessons that I will take from this and while I love to run with abandonment, I have to think about the associate risk. Hope you found my events educational and a little entertaining, but remember that bad things can happen when we put ourselves in risky situations. I will run another day but banging my head as hard as I apparently did, could have ended quite a bit worse. Enjoy the rest of your Sunday and be prepared for the weather ahead. Programing note: Monday and Wednesday nights at 5:30 Jasmin Lepir conducts 2 strength and conditioning classes at “the center.” The drop in cost is an amazing $6.00 for a 30 minute class. Each class is limited to 4 people so email us at infor@nofinishlinerunning.com if you want to reserve a spot or take your chances and show up. These classes are an awesome way to improve your running through specific strength training. This is just another one of the great deal “the center” offers for a very affordable price. Check it out! God Bless! Mike