Owww

So I went running yesterday morning in Philly and it did not go well. 


It started off wonderfully.  I was staying out in the 'burbs, so I ran toward Swarthmore College.  Tons of beautiful homes in the area, and running around campus so early was fun. 



Technically, sunrise was at 7:10 or something, and I set out a little before 6, planning to run about 10k and wanting to be back by 6:50 or so. 


It was not actually pitch black when I started running.  A combination of street lights and that pre-dawn light meant I could see just fine, especially after the first mile or so. 


It was COLD!  Temps in the low 60s, so (like any runner on the first fall-ish run) I wore long sleeves.  Totally not necessary, but ah, so nice to get to wear them and not be miserably hot.

I ran until about mile 3.5 and was getting ready to U-turn, thinking I would take a more direct route back to the hotel, so I'd be good on distance.
It was so pretty. 

Those were the last happy pictures.  6:26 a.m., both of them. 
I wanted to run just a little bit further and I realized the sidewalk I was on was leading to a public transit station.  I saw a sidewalk on the other side of the street. 


There were a few cars coming from my right, so I waited for them before crossing.  There was a car in the distance to my left, but I wasn't worried about it. 


As the last car passed, I stepped out into the street to run across.  And somehow I stepped on a single huge (softball sized?) rock in the road. 


I rolled my left ankle BOTH WAYS, if that's even possible?  I went all the way down and got some very slight scrapes on my knees and my left hand, but I think my ankle absorbed all of it.  I quickly crawled back to the grass so the oncoming car wouldn't hit me.  I sat in the grass for a minute.  I actually felt like I was going to pass out it hurt so much.  I tried to stand on it and I knew I was done.  No more running.  I tried to get an uber, but of course my phone wasn't working (100% operator error, I think I tried to turn off the wifi in the morning before I ran but I accidentally put it in airplane mode).  So I walked/jogged painfully back to the hotel.


Perhaps the worst part was crossing a very busy intersection -- turns out my defense counsel was driving through and saw me.  He said he almost yelled but he was worried I'd turn to see him and get hit by a car.  Just hearing that I could have been spared the misery of the last mile almost makes me cry.


Anyway, got to the hotel, got a bag of ice to put on it, and took off my shoe.  It was already very swollen and seems to be bruising a bit.  Owww.  This would happen 2.5 weeks before my marathon.  I'm hoping it's just a sprain.  I'm kind of a wuss and I don't think I could have gone about 2 miles on a broken ankle. 

And a picture of the swelling on the inside. 

I ended up settling my case in a hurry just so I could get on an early flight home.  I got to the airport, changed my flight, and walked right on a plane to Dallas.  They gave me bags of ice on the plane so I could keep icing, but it's ugly.  I sat next to a really nice guy and we ended up talking for a fair amount of the flight, which is so rare for me.  He's 61, married 26 years, 4 kids, youngest is a senior in HS now.  He was connecting in Dallas and heading on to Lake Charles, LA for work.  I had started working on the plane, but after about an hour, I asked him what he was reading, and that started the conversation -- he was reading a book by a friend to do an Amazon review for him, and then he told me about this friend, and we just exchanged stories for the next hour-plus about travel, people, family, everything.  So pleasant! 


As they made a final trash sweep on the plane, I asked if I could get a wheelchair when we landed.  I've never used one so I didn't know if you had to pay for it, or arrange it when you booked your flight or what, but apparently not -- you just let them know and they get it set up for you right then and there.  They ordered one for me, but when we got off the plane, while there were several wheelchairs, no one was there to push. 


The sweet guy I'd talked to for most of the flight had carried my suitcase off the plane for me and hung out with me while I was waiting for a chair-pusher.  He eventually asked the guy at the counter if he could just push me, and the guy said it was fine.  He insisted he had more than 2 hours before his flight and he didn't mind.  He pushed me to the tram that we took to the terminal where we parked.  And while he pushed me, he dragged my suitcase and briefcase with his other arm (I carried his briefcase on my lap).  We got to the terminal where I was parked and he was ready to push me all the way out to my car, but I insisted he stop at the security exit -- no telling what the lines would be like to go back in to security and I didn't want him to risk a mess.  It just kind of blew my mind.  And I never even got his name (though I know where he lives, the names/schools/future plans of his kids, names of his brothers, father's age, his surgical history, how he spent the summer when he was 19, what he thinks about Donald Trump, etc.). 


How in the world are there people this nice in the world still? 


Needless to say, no mile repeats for me this morning.  I slept late and I'm about to leave for the ortho.  I got an 8:00 appointment because I want to have it checked out.  And I want to hear from "a real M.D." (to quote Pretty Woman) that it's just a sprain and it will be fine in about 3 days... 


Fingers crossed!