Day 3,813-14 —Falling in the Dark—

          Yesterday morning I did 6, but I was thinking I would go out again and run on the trail. I didn’t make it to Lone Elk until after midnight, and I was a lot more tired than I thought I would be. I started slow and I was feeling light. I made it to this one area where there was a metal grate and a branch as wide as a child’s arm, and I could walk on without even pausing to verify each step. I felt like I knew where each of my steps landed, and I wasn't going to miss. Little did I know that the casual way I went over that branch wasn’t going to be able to be replicated at all on my way back.

         And on the way back I was miserable, I had fallen a few times not bad but still I felt like I was getting thrown around by the course and my headlamp was dim. When I made it to the spot after 13 miles, I didn’t know what to do, the metal grate wasn’t sturdy enough for me to jump with both feet, but the branch was too small to put my weight on initially by stepping on it. 

         When I stepped out, my foot slipped. My feet were wet now and I was tired. I fell hard on my right shin. I caught myself with my hands, so I didn’t fall down the 10-foot crevasse, but still, the fall left a gash of about 2 inches long and a half-inch thick on my right shin. When I tried to clean the blood off later, it was no use. At least nothing broke, but I wanted to scream as I ran the last mile to my car. The throbbing pain coming from my leg was coming in waves, so I wasn't sure how bad it was, but I knew it hurt. 

It could have been worse. On the way there, a skunk lifted his tail to spray me, and I started walking backward. When the skunk continued to pursue me backward down the path. I turned around and ran the other way with my hands covering my face. I waited for the spray to come. They can spray from  20 feet or something insane, so I wanted to get far away, but I was going to have to turn around and go back towards where I saw the skunk. 

I saw so many animals this morning! There were at least 20 deer on the road on the way up. The coyotes sounded close, but I didn't see any. A small animal did run across the path and I brushed up against it, but I didn't see what it was. I wondered why sprint across the path as you see me approaching? But maybe it was just one of those things where we were both going in the same direction. 

 

I am mad I didn’t slow down seeing as I am going to have to deal with this now for a week. It could have been worse. I could have fallen down. I could have broken something.