Saturday, July 20, 2013

I fall and go boom!

They say that every runner will eventually wipe out while running.  I've had a couple of falls while running - once when I was very new to the whole thing.  I am definitely not the most graceful person in the world.  I've always had very weak ankles and used to fall a LOT from twisting my ankles.  But losing the weight and being stronger from running and working my legs has seemed to cure that.  However, I don't think I will ever try trail running because I am SO afraid of falling badly.

Well, while on vacation I had a MAJOR wipeout.  I'd like to blame someone or something other then myself, but the truth is that I just lost focus and did a very dumb thing.  I had run through a construction site and had a rock wedged in my shoe.  Rather then stopping like a normal human and pulling the rock out, I instead made the not so wise decision to try to "scuff" the rock out.  Next thing I know I am LAID OUT on the pavement.

Now you know that you're one of those crazy ass runners when the first thought you have is to stop your running watch.  Which is what I did!  Next, I got to my knees and looked around to see if my crash had been witnessed by anyone (it hadn't).  Only then did I assess the damage.

I must have been moving right along because I fell primarily on my arm and left hip.


Does it look like it hurt?  Well it did!  And I still had to run about 3 1/2 miles home.  Poor me.

At any rate, I did what any normal person (ahem!) would do and posted a picture to Facebook.  My cousin, Jessica, who works in a medical office recommended that I get this bandage type thing call Tegaderm.  I had never heard of it so I quickly did some research.  

It's a transparent bandage that is made primarily for "weeping" wounds.  It keeps the wound moist so that it doesn't shrink up - which helps in preventing scarring.  It protects the wound as well.  You simply paste this sucker on and can wear it up to 7 days.

So I went out and bought a pack.

We opened it up and found that it was really easy to just lay it over where I had the injury.  We had to use 2 because it was so big.  

When on, it's fairly inconspicuous.  The paperwork said that you can shower with it on.  I'm happy to report that I showered with it and it stayed on perfectly.  This patch DOES NOT have any painkilling properties, but as soon as I put it on, the pain went away and stayed away.  Not sure why that is, but it literally didn't hurt all all unless I laid on it or otherwise put a lot of pressure on it.  I think the patch protecting it from the air helps?

Now the one thing I will say is that any of these "road rash" injuries leak a LOT.  So that fluid builds up under the patch as you can see.  It's perfectly NORMAL but pretty gross as well.

I peeled it off a few days later (very easy) and here's what my arm looks like one week after the fall.

So, I'm hoping that I don't fall again like an idiot.  But I am definitely going to keep these Tegaderm patches on hand because I was pretty impressed with the product. 


  1. Thanks, that's good to know. I am about the world's clumsiest person. I always have some sort of bruise or wound or abrasion somewhere. My worst running face plant happened IN a major intersection. Fortunately, traffic was light, but it was indeed witnessed by a woman and her dog. I also had several miles left to get back to my car. At least we have good stories to tell!

    1. It's never funny during, but I can usually appreciate it afterwards!!!

  2. Omg, will the scar go away? It doesn't seem likely!

  3. I usually scar badly, but I kept it covered in Vitamin E after taking off the patch and it looks good - we'll know in a few weeks.