My Most Embarrassing Fitness Moment: Jenn vs. the Sidewalk
For this edition of Question of the Week, each FBG is recounting her most embarrassing moment when it comes to working out. Buckle up…these should be fun!
I like to tell myself that my most embarrassing fitness moment isn’t exactly unique. That every runner trips—HARD—at one time or another during training. After all, when you’re preparing for a marathon, you run oh-so many miles. You’re likely to misstep eventually, right?
I probably trip almost every single time I run outside. Whether it’s on a trail or around my neighborhood, I sometimes get so into the groove of running and jamming to my favorite workout tunes that I apparently lose control of my muscles or, more likely, my surroundings become less clear to me. And trip I do. Boom. Usually, I do that really awkward falling thing where your arms jut out and your face goes all wonky and you make that weird scream/embarrassed-laugh sound. And then, just before face-planting, I catch my balance, take a quick look around to see if anyone saw my spaz-out and get on with my run, face red from the embarrassment (even if no one is around, my own clumsiness is embarrassing to me most days).
But, I don’t always catch myself. Like was the case with My Most Embarrassing Fitness Moment Ever. About half a mile into an 18-mile marathon-training run, I was already SO into the running groove and feeling great. The weather was beautiful, and I was super happy to be out running in it. And then, suddenly, my toe clipped an uneven sidewalk and without me even having time to do my usual spaz-out, I was down.
WOMAN DOWN.
And I hit hard, folks. Although I somehow avoided total face-plant, my knees took the brunt of the fall and were all scraped up and bleeding. It apparently looked bad enough—and here’s where this fall becomes My Most Embarrassing Fitness Moment Ever—that a guy driving by in a giant red truck (the fact that he’s in a truck really has nothing to do with the story, but it’s one of those little details that I remember super well for some reason) screeched to a halt in the middle of the street and jumped out to make sure I was okay. Like, I didn’t-need-to-go-to-the-hospital okay. Of course, in the commotion, other cars stopped to gawk, too.
Now that’s embarrassing.
I told him that I was just a little scraped up, and was fine. I was just going to, you know, go ahead and run the rest of my 17.5 miles. And that I did, swollen knee, stinging sensation, little bit of blood and all. Because I’m apparently too proud to run home for a Band-Aid. Or let a big dude in a red truck know that “Ouch, mo-fo that HURT.”
While I doubt many of you have stopped traffic because of a misstep, please tell me I’m not the only one who has trouble running outdoors… —Jenn