Or … how to not take care of skinned knees

 

Trail running 101… don’t tempt fate!

In early June of last year I did the unthinkable and inexcusable… I had a really bad fall while trail running in the Lac Du Bois grasslands. Why inexcusable? I had an event (Foam Fest at Sun Peaks) a week away so I should have been wrapped in psychic bubble wrap to prevent getting injured. I also tempted fate by saying to my friend Jody right before I fell, “I love this trail because I don’t feel like I’m about to fall!”…. BOOM!

We think I tripped over a rock although it happened so fast nobody is sure what happened. I went down so hard and so fast my hands didn’t even have time to react and brace my fall – they never touched the dirt. All the force went directly onto my knees… and my left knee in particular. Why is this unthinkable? It was an easy trail and I hadn’t fallen for a few months so …. back to tempting fate. I actually do fall a fair amount when I run. Oddly I don’t fall when I cross country ski, but running is a different ball game.

So, there I was rolling around on the trail screaming in pain and bleeding. I was screaming so loud Gerry, who runs ahead of us with headphones on and doubles back to check on us, heard me and immediately sprinted back. I decided I could walk back – not many options anyway. By the time I got home I could feel the swelling. I went to my chiropractor / sports guy and he confirmed that he thought it was a sprain and the standard rest / ice / elevation combo would do the trick. Hmmm… Ice was no problem. Rest? Hmmmm…. I had Foam Fest the next weekend and then I was doing a solo backpack to Egypt Lake a few weeks later. Hmmm…. The nightly swelling my left knee actually lasted for months.

 

I had also been invited to visit the set of the Movie if the Week I wrote. Trying to make a good professional impression wearing shorts because fabric touching the scab was seriously unpleasant. The timing for this injury was seriously unpleasant.

The biggest thing I was worried about was Foam Fest at Sun Peaks. It was our second time doing Foam Fest. We have a huge team and I was really looking forward to it. I knew my knees would get trashed in the mud, water, and on the obstacles so I was looking for a solution to keep the sores dry and protect them. I knew the sprain would probably get worse (bad me) but I thought I’d just rest and ice more later to make up for it (very bad me).

My solution!

Ok, this is not a blog post about what worked or what one should try in a similar situation, this is purely for entertainment purposes and to teach the lesson… DON’T DO AS I DO!!!!

 

Honestly, I thought these ingredients would work to protect my knee. I had high hopes for the infant diapers. Sliding my leg in sideways and taping it all up should work… right?

Remember that saying that Duct Tape is good for everything but ducts? Wrong!

Foam Fest – Race Day!

So, since I really am that graceful, I fell on my knee and ripped the diaper before the race even started. Yup, that felt good! (not!)

Our team – Revenge of the MudMonsters, was awesome as usual. We had a blast and can’t wait for this year. My knee? It got thrashed. My ingenious solution to my knee issue didn’t even last through the first obstacle. Bending it in weird angles to crawl over fences or rope ladders was excruciating. I survived.

 

 

So, the moral of this story is Foam Fest is awesome and diapers and duct tape won’t protect injured knees. See you in June of 2017… must remember to put bubble wrap on my calender!