Last week, I began my first week back to exercising very well, doing yoga for strength on Monday then yoga for flexibility (ouch) on Tuesday. I decided that I would take Wednesdays and Sundays off since I tend to have a little more on my plate on those days and I don't want to push myself too far.
Thursday was the day I would really get back to rollerblading, and at our favorite walk park. I had been wanting to rollerblade there since we had first visited the park, but either we were just going there to walk, then I was pregnant, then I was recovering and too weak to rollerblade.
It was a little daunting thinking about it, since I hadn't rollerbladed in quite a while (although I had practiced at home a couple of times). But let me make clear the fact that this is something I have been doing on and off (mostly on) for the past 15 years. And in those 15 years, I have fallen three times, the worst of those falls resulting only in a little knee-scrape.
Back to the story. Casey had Miles in the stroller, and they went on ahead while I finished putting on my gear and getting my tunes ready. I had just started out and I was a little nervous when I had a semi-steep hill to descend. I braked fine and made it down the hill and around the turn. Whew! Now my confidence was boosted, and I kicked things into high gear.
I had another little hill to get past before I would have some pretty decent level ground the rest of the way around the walk park. Unfortunately, I wasn't aware that at the bottom of this little hill there was a section of missing walkway. In its place was a couple of feet of, well, dirt. That normally would not be a problem, since I have rolled over dirt, gravel, rain, sticks, etc. without much happening. But I felt my stomach do a little flip when I saw, too late to brake, that in the middle of the dirt was a dirt bump. And it wasn't small. Okay, it wasn't huge, but it was certainly big enough to disrupt a line of wheels.
Next thing I knew, I was flying through the air, then I was hitting the ground...but I kept moving after I hit the ground. Somehow my left knee hit first, then the back of my right leg scraped along the walkway, taking off very large amounts of skin. It all happened very fast, and yet it also seems like everything went in slow-motion. Weird.
Lucky for me, Casey wasn't too far ahead and happened to turn and look just in time to see the end of my fall. He came over with Miles in the stroller as I lay there in shock. At this point I still hadn't begun to feel the pain of the fall (ah, those blissful moments!). I was mostly trying to make sure nothing was broken. I moved my left leg back and forth slowly, because I could see my bloodied knee but couldn't tell how bad it was.
At this point I'll just skip the worst stuff, like the part where I actually started to feel the pain and nearly passed out and threw up at the same time -- all while waiting for Casey to pull the car around. The rest of the day wasn't too bad, at least after I took some Tylenol and covered the wounds. Strangest comment I made to Casey that day: "Aren't you glad we had all this gauze left over from changing the dressing on my wound?"
It's been a week and a day now since 'the incident' and I am happy to report that my road rash is much, much better. My knee is still pretty yucky, and I still have a limp on that side, but I feel very lucky that nothing was broken. And I am looking forward very much to getting back to my yoga and rollerblading.
You heard me!
Thursday was the day I would really get back to rollerblading, and at our favorite walk park. I had been wanting to rollerblade there since we had first visited the park, but either we were just going there to walk, then I was pregnant, then I was recovering and too weak to rollerblade.
It was a little daunting thinking about it, since I hadn't rollerbladed in quite a while (although I had practiced at home a couple of times). But let me make clear the fact that this is something I have been doing on and off (mostly on) for the past 15 years. And in those 15 years, I have fallen three times, the worst of those falls resulting only in a little knee-scrape.
Back to the story. Casey had Miles in the stroller, and they went on ahead while I finished putting on my gear and getting my tunes ready. I had just started out and I was a little nervous when I had a semi-steep hill to descend. I braked fine and made it down the hill and around the turn. Whew! Now my confidence was boosted, and I kicked things into high gear.
I had another little hill to get past before I would have some pretty decent level ground the rest of the way around the walk park. Unfortunately, I wasn't aware that at the bottom of this little hill there was a section of missing walkway. In its place was a couple of feet of, well, dirt. That normally would not be a problem, since I have rolled over dirt, gravel, rain, sticks, etc. without much happening. But I felt my stomach do a little flip when I saw, too late to brake, that in the middle of the dirt was a dirt bump. And it wasn't small. Okay, it wasn't huge, but it was certainly big enough to disrupt a line of wheels.
Next thing I knew, I was flying through the air, then I was hitting the ground...but I kept moving after I hit the ground. Somehow my left knee hit first, then the back of my right leg scraped along the walkway, taking off very large amounts of skin. It all happened very fast, and yet it also seems like everything went in slow-motion. Weird.
Lucky for me, Casey wasn't too far ahead and happened to turn and look just in time to see the end of my fall. He came over with Miles in the stroller as I lay there in shock. At this point I still hadn't begun to feel the pain of the fall (ah, those blissful moments!). I was mostly trying to make sure nothing was broken. I moved my left leg back and forth slowly, because I could see my bloodied knee but couldn't tell how bad it was.
At this point I'll just skip the worst stuff, like the part where I actually started to feel the pain and nearly passed out and threw up at the same time -- all while waiting for Casey to pull the car around. The rest of the day wasn't too bad, at least after I took some Tylenol and covered the wounds. Strangest comment I made to Casey that day: "Aren't you glad we had all this gauze left over from changing the dressing on my wound?"
It's been a week and a day now since 'the incident' and I am happy to report that my road rash is much, much better. My knee is still pretty yucky, and I still have a limp on that side, but I feel very lucky that nothing was broken. And I am looking forward very much to getting back to my yoga and rollerblading.
You heard me!
