Smack

I'm clumsy. There, I said it. People who know me understand this. They have seen the carnage. For those of you who don't know me, I fall. A lot. Usually when I'm running in the woods. I mean, it's a little trail, covered in roots and rocks, people fall, right? Ha. Apparently I'm an exception. I asked a friend once, when we were blasting our way down some trails in Hartley. 'Hey dude, how many times would you say you fall in a week?' He looks at me and goes, 'Are you crazy? I can't remember the last time I've fallen.' I about fell over laughing. At that time, I had already fallen twice that week. I think it was a Tuesday.

     This past weekend, I went running in the woods. Seeing as it is Fall leaf-changing season here, the trails are riddled with leaves. Leaves covered everything. The trails, especially. It was beautiful, no doubt about it. But there should have been a large, blinking red stop sign posted where I hopped onto the trail that said, 'CAUTION, TRAIL IS COVERED IN LEAVES. MAKE SURE YOU ARE CAREFUL. YOU COULD FALL.' Not saying I really would have paid any attention to the large, blinking sign, but I might have thought twice before plowing forward.... Needless to say, my dainty running skills were nowhere to be found....

    I was running along, enjoying the gorgeous afternoon, totally happy and free in the woods. My favorite. But then, SMACK. It was like my left foot hit a brick wall. Boom. I am DOWN for the count. Practically fell on my face, but somehow I grabbed a random wimpy tree next to me and kept myself from going head first into a large rock. Did I mention I was wearing my Vibram toe shoes? The ones where each toe fits into a certain spot like a glove? Yeah, pretty sure I thought I left my left pinkie toe somewhere behind me. Like I was going to have to turn around and go scrape it off of the rock that I just smacked. Man alive, my whole foot was numb! I proceeded to continue jogging (because what else was I supposed to do, I was in the woods) and after a while I pulled off my shoe and examined the carnage. My toe was already swelling up. I could feel it pulsating. And when I went to put the shoe back on, it was tight. Gosh. Darn. It. Well, I managed to half run/half gimp my way back home. In one piece, just a tad worse for wear. 

   The best part now? My toe and foot are purple. Yeah. Gorgeous coloring, I must say. Sort of reminds me of the leaves changing color. Red to purple to yellow. Beautiful. 

   I will leave you with this: Take caution in the woods. And don't kick rocks.