No it wasn’t the smoke nor was it undertraining. Full credit of my DNF goes to my uncanny ability to trip over nothing and hurt myself. I am a klutz. There I said it. Somewhere on the second leg of Lost Soul Ultra on Saturday, I tripped (on a pebble?) and came down awkwardly on my right knee. I didn’t think much of it at the time. I was simply proud of myself for avoiding a face plant.
But at the next downhill, my right knee buckled when I tried to run. Of course this pissed me off because it’s on the downhills that most runners make up the time that they lose on the climbs or whatever. I thought I could run out the pain but it wasn’t that easy. My knee kept giving out. I started crying and I couldn’t stop. Whenever someone asked me if I was okay, I would start crying again.
I called Rachel at the second aid station and texted Amanda to tell her what I had happened. They were both very sweet and supportive. Although I’m sure Rachel thought I was a complete lunatic who could barely get out any words on the phone. I mean who cries about running?
Once the volunteers brought the ice, I knew that I was done. The first two legs were the warm up for the real fun on the course. I know my body and what it’s capable of doing. Sure I could finish the race walking the downhills but I know I would have been in a lot of pain and unable to walk. It’s not like I was going to win the race. (Besides I feel slightly silly whining that I DNFed in a 50K when there are runners who ran 100 miles and 100 kilometres.)
Really in the big scheme of things, who cares? (Just me.) I’m sad that I didn’t get to challenge myself on the tough bits of the race. As the afternoon progressed, I felt better about my decision. The crying stopped and I was able to laugh off my stupidity. Right now I am icing my knee as I write this. On Monday, I will get my knee checked out.
I’m looking forward to coming back again next year!
Happy trails!
First off, it’s not because of “stupidity” that you fell—apparently that’s a fate that befalls MOST or maybe even ALL ultra-runners over their careers. I see nothing but broken/sprained ankles, bloody shins, scraped elbows and knees every single day cuz I follow enough of them. Secondly, you’re also not the only one who cares! I can only guess that there’s a whole bunch of us out there who knew how hard you worked at getting ready for this race and how this particular race is important to you and we were all looking forward to hearing you tell us all about it. The main thing is to heal quickly and get back out there doing the thing you love so that we can share in some of that with you! Hugs!
Thanks for your support 🙂