Pavement Diving

The streets of Boston are covered in ice half the time during the winter months. This makes for treacherous and challenging runs. Some address the issue with Yaktrax, some run in the middle of the street amidst traffic, others just succumb to the dreadmill. I suck it up and have developed and excellent ice-running technique. I haven't fallen once due to the ice.

So given the risk I take with icy sidewalks, it's just ridiculous that it was dry, clean sidewalk that sent me pitching into unforgiving cement. You know how Somerville revels in being Tree City USA? A tree-hugging title passed out by the Arbor Foundation each year. The city got this title due to the fact that its managed to cram a ridiculous amount of trees onto every square inch of un-cemented space in a city with one of the highest local population densities. Or rather, the city plants trees literally in the middle of sidewalks in 1 ft cement cutouts, the roots grow with the tree, upending the cement blocks that form the sidewalk surrounding the tree, which then trip up unsuspecting runners who are simply trying to improve their odds of not being hit by a car by jogging in the only other place available.

I was happily getting into my brief 2 mile jog to the grocery store, adjusting the belt that held my grocery money, when...the next thing I know I was skidding across cement. I don't even remember falling. I was blindly fiddling with the belt one minute and the next I felt stunning pain in my knees. Basically, I didn't brace myself to lessen the impact. I just went down. So my palms and elbows were relatively unscathed. The insulated running tights were cement-burned off on my right knee.

After the initial shock and cry, I realized that not only was no one around, but it wasn't *that* bad. Hey, I mean, I'm a badass runner. I'll just keep running. Sure.

So I wiped away the tears, pretended I wasn't bleeding, and continued to the grocery store at a slightly slower pace. I had adrenaline and shock on my side!

That wore off about 20 minutes into grocery shopping and was replaced with horrible pain that had my eyes tearing up as I navigated the aisles with a more and more apparent limp. By the time I got home, I realized my mistake and could barely make it up the stairs to my bedroom. I didn't leave the couch after that. Ice, ibuprofen, bandages and anti-bacterial stuff to prevent scarring.

Photos from later that evening after cleaning up:

Right knee cuts, directly after arriving home


Bruising begins to develop on the left knee


You can begin to see the bruising and swelling develop here: