Staring Kathleen the Klutz Queen...

 How many of you remember that poem about your birth day of the week?  You know the one: Monday's child is fair of face... etc.  Well, I am a Tuesday's child, which means I am supposed to be full of grace.  Hahaha... Joke's on you, poetry.  When I was five, my mother enrolled me in dance classes, and that's when we learned in a very quantifiable way just how graceless I actually am.  All the other little girls would go left, and I would dance right.  They would twirl, and I would fall.  It was just not my thing.  That was 1984.  Fast forward to 2011.  Well, turns out that running also takes a little coordination.  On my four mile run on Monday, the pavement and I had a little run-in (pun intended). 


Notice the lovely purple bruising.  All the blood in my muscles from my run rushed right to
my injury and made it look worse than it was.  It didn't stay bruised looking, fortuntately.


Because I had a late night on Sunday, I decided to run in town on Monday morning.  You know, less hills = easier run.  So I took what Corey and I have dubbed the "Market Loop."  This is a two mile loop that runs by the Elmwood Market and only has a single hill at the one mile mark.  This route also provides a convenient bathroom stop either at my house at the end of two miles, or at the Elmwood Laundromat (sorry, Laundromat) at mile 1.5.  I rocked through the first loop; I was feeling pretty good- not too tired, and I ran the majority of the second loop without incident.  The end of this loop takes me down Main Street to Knox, where I turn to run home.  Main Street, as the name implies, is one of the main arteries of our small community, and as such has many cars and other vehicles, not to mention businesses and houses along its path.  All the houses on this street are the old Victorian kind, which makes for a visually stimulating run.  This is why I included Main Street as part of the Market Loop.  Okay, now that you have a visual of Main Street, I want you to imagine the landscaping that these old houses have.  Are you seeing big trees?  You should.  A lot of the old houses also have old trees, which make for a nice, shady stretch of run, but also means the pavement can be a little uneven. 

Here is my road rash (lol) a few days later.

Even knowing that the pavement is cracked in spots, and having run this loop for 4+ months now, I still managed to fall on the last half mile of my Monday run.  Grrr... I was running by the funeral home on Main when I looked over at a red truck driving by.  This one look was enough to help my toes catch in the cracked pavement and send me sprawling.  I skinned both my knees, my left leg, and both my palms.  I guess I am lucky I caught myself and didn't skin my face.  So now, because it is shorts season being that is is HOT, I get to have everyone stare at my leg and ask what happened.  Then I get to inform them about what a total klutz I am that I can't even run on a flat course.  Luckily, I was almost done with the run, and I was close to home.  Unluckily, I fell where everyone outside saw me- the truck I had looked over at slowed down to make sure I got up, so they definitely saw me bite the dust.  Oh well... At least I wasn't out in the country with six miles left, I guess.  I picked myself up and ran the rest of the way home. 

My leg looks the worst.  It looks kind of like road rash.  That's what I should say happened to me to when people ask- I had a motorcycle accident and fell off my hog.  Unfortunately, I don't look like the motorcycle mama type (although I am not sure I look like the running type either).  I will just have to live with the (mild) embarrassment until everything heals.  (Insert eye-roll here.)