4.5 this morning on the some soggy trails. I fell twice.

QOTD: What is the worst fall you have ever taken while running, and how often do you fall?

It is hard to say which is the worst fall I have taken. I slid off the side of the trail one morning, minor scrapes on my shin. But by the middle of the night, I had developed cellulitis in my shin. That was bad. But probably the worst fall I have taken was when my toe hit a manhole cover, and I did a somersault into the ditch. My neighbor saw it and still references it on occasion. Probably the most spectacular fall was in a night time 10K in 2015. We were running fast the last mile, and I really wanted to place in the top 10. We came out of the trail at a road crossing and my toe caught one of those road reflectors. I rolled with it, literally, and bounced right back up on my feet, never missing a stride and actually passed the guy directly in front of me. The guy right on my left shoulder was freaking out. I think the guy freaking out shocked the guy in front of me, causing him to slow down for a second. I was gone before he knew what happened. We all had a great laugh about it at the finish line.

This morning's falls were not that spectacular, but they did cover me in mud pretty good. I don't fall very much, and I haven't fallen down in about a year.

 

QOTD: I guess I average 1-2 falls/month. I get into streaks with falling. Fell the other day at French Creek on slick mud/ice. Not a bad fall but it mucked me up good. Stopped on the way home to get hoagies from the Wawa and some dude asked me if I had been in a mud run. Nah, just fell on the trail. I am pretty good at falling I say. Him and his son just looked at me like I was a nutcase. Worst fall would have to be the one that sent me to the ER in the 2008 HAT run. By fall standards not super painful but fell on a sharp rock and impaled my belly. Needed 3 stitches. After a few beers post run we went and took care of that little issue. Thankfully no beer spilled out.

 

LB2 - come run up here with the PA rocks if you need more practice falling.

I think I have it down pretty good here. But I would like to do the Laurel Highlands Trail. Anyway, I always get strange looks when I go to the grocery store or stop to grab a bite after a run. No one runs around here in my immediate area.

Cross training today, shoveling very dense and wet sleet/snow.  We only got about 3-4", but it packed down with the mix of snow and sleet.  But we don't have the ice build up that south of here got with freezing rain so I consider ourselves lucky. A friend's very large tree came down, just missing the house.

Needless to say, I might not get out running today.

qotd: I don't fall as much probably because I don't have the time and mileage that many of you get in. Usually it's about 2-3 times a year and I typically end up with minor scrapes and bruises.

I measured the snow at 16" before the strong winds stared. Now hard to tell what's new and what's blown snow. My country road is plowed, so I'm heading out for a few miles before round 2 of driveway snow blowing.

Interesting article on the possible benefit different exercises have on brain function. Short version - moderate running good, weight lifting no help (at least for lab rats).

QOTD:  Since my right shoulder still hurts, the superman fall I did 2 years ago has to be my most lasting fall injury. Sun was poking through the trees creating all sorts of shadows, and I never saw the little fucker of a rock and made a spectacular belly flop with my arms in front of me.

My most spectacular fall was during Blues Cruise on the old out and back course.  Just before the 1/2 way turn around, you went down a big hill to the check point.  2 guys were coming up the hill towards me and one guy decided to pass the other guy right next to me.  He kicked my left shoe and I went rolling down the hill on the nice PA rocks.  Had cuts on my hands, face and legs and was a bloody mess. When I got back to the AS, after the turn, everyone was looking at me in horror.  None of the cuts were too deep, just a lot of blood the was made more epic by my sweat. The guy who tripped me felt terrible and waited to see if I was ok.  I ended up passing him in the last 10 miles and he just kept saying "man, I'm sorry".  Turns out it was his first ultra and his first ever trail race.

Playing with the Tonka John Deere toy.

Should be a lot more green in that picture......as in the pasture and trees turning green.

Totally buried with it's hands out begging to be rescued.

Glad we didn't have to shovel all that junk.

Think we ended up with about 15 inches at the most. Pretty good for March but nowhere near our biggest one ever and not as big as March of '93. Then we had over 24 inches.

Holy cow, the rumors of snow back east are true.

Daydreamer, driving those tractors around in the snow looks sort of fun, though.

Easy 4.8 mile joggity jog this afternoon.  I think it hit 70 degrees today on the coast.  Looking forward to more rain next week.  I might be the only one around here who feels that way.

Meanwhile in Northern California:

QOTD: I did a face plant recently at a HM and cut my lip, so that was exciting.  I'm usually sort of a slow poke on rocks and roots, but at this race, was going downhill with less than 2 miles to go and running faster than my klutziness allows.  Caught a toe on something and went down face first.  It happened too quickly to do anything about it, yet there was still that feeling of things happening in slo-mo, that feeling of "oh crap, I'm falling, here comes the ground, oh no, BAM."  I was spitting out dirt after that fall too.

I seem to fall around once per month.  But it's less than it used to be, since I got my eyes checked and discovered I was nearsighted.  Fortunately no real harm done on the falls.  Other than some lost dignity.

AT, you mentioned a sore shoulder from falling.  I suspect I've strained my rotator cuff from wildly pinwheeling and falling heavily on that shoulder too many times.  You ever get a diagnosis for your sore shoulder?