Lesson #1 In Running 101

Sarah and I have been running together for over 2 weeks now.  Sarah had a mile race coming up and I wanted to help her prepare for it.  I ran cross country and track in high school and loved it (over 20 years ago), so I thought this would be okay... She could be my workout partner, helping push me back into shape, and I could teach her how to run fast.  I even think we will enter some fun 5K races together in the future.

We started out strong running our first mile together in 8 minutes and 30 seconds!  Not too shabby for an in shape 8 year old and a completely out of shape 38 year old.  We did sprints, jogging, and a timed mile each day for our first 2 weeks.

Sarah's 1 mile race was last Friday.  She did AWESOME!!!! She took 5th place overall, and was the first girl in her group to cross the finish line.  She also got her fastest mile time ever... 8 minutes and 2 seconds!!!!  It was a proud Mom moment for me!

Saturday evening we left the house at about 8pm to run our workout around our neighborhood.  Eric was out of town on a fishing trip with my Dad, and my Mom was at our house, so she could stay home with Silas and Phoebe while we ran.  I also thought since it was dark out, we would take our dog, Jessee, with us on our run.  We started out our run being chased by a little white dog that lives two houses down from us.  Maybe the little white dog was chasing Jessee, not really Sarah and I, but who really knows.  It came right out in the street, running after us, barking like crazy.  We briefly stopped running so that the little dog, who was being yelled at ferociously by it's owner would turn and go back home.  Then we took off running again.  I had a little bit of a hard time at first adjusting to running with our dog.  Holding the leash in my right hand, keeping Sarah on the inside next to the curb, and setting a pace... At about the half mile mark, we had settled into a pace pretty well when suddenly the dog drifted to the left, right in my path.  My toe caught the back of one of her back heels, and I was flying forward with crazy fast momentum.  As I hit the rough pavement, like a Royals player sliding into second base hands and face first, I was able to keep a hold of the leash and get my skin ripped from my body simultaneously.  "SAFE!" An umpire yelled somewhere in my head as I got up off the cold hard rocky concrete.  Immediately I felt blood running down my right arm, hand, and fingers.  I looked down for a quick, under the street light inspection, and found that blood was rolling down and dripping off my right hand at pretty fast rate.  It also felt like I quite possibly had had my pinky finger on my right hand blown off my body.

We were at least another half mile away from our house.  Sarah asked me if I was okay.  I said, "No", as nicely as one can while their own warm red blood fills the palm of their hand.  Then she asked, "What do we do?"  Well, workout partner-ole-pal, we now must walk home and check out this mangled right arm and hand of mine before I bleed out right here, three streets from home.  (I really didn't say that... outloud.)  Instead, I just said we have to get home, NOW.  So we fast walked, leaving a trail of blood that any Bloodhound could have followed with his nose closed for half a mile back to our house and up our driveway.  As we walked, every 3 seconds I took the opportunity to remind myself and my daughter just how much my fingers, hand, and elbow were hurting.  And, at every street light I took notice of just how much warm blood was still running down my hand and fingers and dripping onto the concrete.

Along our bloody walk back to our house though, the dog, our dog, managed to slip out of her collar.  I had a panic moment as I envisioned myself chasing our black lab wildly down our dark streets blood spilling from my right appendage... Like some wild scene right out of a Halloween horror movie made for middle-aged kids.... I calmly stared down the dog and firmly told her to "SIT".  She did.  I did not unlock my eyes from the dog, as I told Sarah calmly, "Jessee slipped out of her collar.  You HAVE to grab her NOW, and HOLD onto her until I can get the collar and leash back on her...."  Sarah listened, grabbing her immediately.  I was able to easily slip the collar back onto her while giving her a small blood bath from my freely flowing faucet of a finger,arm, and hand.  Once we reached the corner of our street Sarah took off like a shot.  (That girl can sprint!)  She got to our door, raced inside to open the garage door, alert Nanee that I needed some help, came back out to help me wrangle the dog back into our backyard, and brought me my phone so that I could call our sweet neighbor who is a retired RN.  (I needed a professional opinion on if I should go to the ER or not.)  I stood in our driveway for about 5 more minutes decorating our pavement with a little pre-Halloween blood spatter, then walked inside to hold it over the sink while our neighbor had a look and helped clean me up.  Then came the dreaded question.... "CAN YOU BEND IT?"  A little.  "SHOW US".  So, I bent it a little, and blood continued to come out of my "skin completely gone knuckle" of my right pinky finger.  UUgggg, it hurt SO BAD.  We got it bandaged up, and I decided to wait till the next day to go get an x-ray to be sure nothing was broken.  In the meantime I soaked my way through 3-4 band-aids until Immediate Care opened the next day.

 (These pictures do not do the pain I felt justice.)  ps. I did not cry.

At Immediate Care on Sunday they determined that no bones were broken.  They bandaged me back up, gave me some instructions to help with healing, and sent me on my way.

Lesson #1 in Running 101:
Do NOT Run With Your Dog.  They can slow you down, Jerk you around.  Pull you around.  Pull you down, Trip you.  Cause you some serious pain and blood loss.  Do NOT Run With Your Dog.  If you EVER start to have a thought about running/jogging with your pet, just don't do it.  Dogs can be fun.  Dogs can be cute.  Dogs can even be your friend.  But, they most certainly are not workout or running/jogging partners.  Do NOT Run With Your Dog.  EVER.

I got it.  Lesson learned, loud and RED.  I will NOT run with our dog again.  Over and out.

**UPDATE**
11/4/15 Today I went to see my Primary Care Physician due to continued and persistent severe pain in my right pinky finger.  I still cannot bend this finger well at all, and if it gets bumped or accidentally bent (which seems to be at least 532 times a day) it instantly causes "drop me to the ground" pain.  The doctor took a look and immediately told me that my pinky finger is infected.  She also had my hand x-rayed again and found that I do in fact have a break.  It is a nondisplaced fracture of the PIP joint in the right pinky finger. She prescribed me a strong oral antibiotic and a topical antibiotic to fight the infection.  I was also given Iodine rinses to help with cleaning and clearing the infection. Great!  And by the way, Good job Immediate Medical Care located on South Broadway in Haysville, Kansas.  High Five!  You successfully did NOT read the x-rays you took, and you did NOT clean my finger wounds out at all.  I would NOT recommend your facility or Physicians Assistant and Nurse to anyone.