An Imposed Break From Running

In Richland last Thursday, the sun was just peeking over the horizon when I went run a run on the paved trail that goes alongside the Columbia River. The combination of the cool air, singing birds, and other cyclists and runners made for a very enjoyable outing. When I reached my turnaround point, I felt a jab in my foot as if a small rock was stuck to the skin pointy side up. This happens everyone once in a while and usually the rock comes off after a step or two. This one didn't so I reached down to brush it off. Nothing there.

Another couple steps told me there was still something jabbing my foot. Now I looked at it and noticed an incision about 1/8 of an inch in size. And it was bleeding. I didn't see any glass but there was no doubt I hit at least one piece. I squeezed the wound hoping to push out the foreign object. Not happening. So I ran back to my hotel room, cleaned the wound and dug around with a safety pin. Nothing.

Long story short, I finally went to the ER on Sunday morning where they numbed the wound, made the hole bigger and removed the glass. Interestingly, when they learned how the glass got there, nobody lectured me. (I did get some good-natured ribbing from my sister who happened to be on duty at the time, but that's her privilege as a sibling.) One nurse did recommend I get a pair of Vibrams. Truth be told, I should have been wearing them or my aqua sox since I was running in a place I hadn't scouted out before.

So I'm taking a short break from running but as I learned yesterday, that doesn't mean I can't do yard work. Lot's of yard work.