Sunday, June 24, 2012

Me, the Wounded Warrior

Yesterday Jeremy, my friend Emily and I did the Warrior Dash. I have been wanting to do one for a couple years now and they finally had one in Kentucky about 45 minutes from our hometown.

A few weeks ago We were talking about it and Emily was freaking out about how she had read that people had broken their ankles on one of the obstacles! Jeremy and I tried to calm her and her fears. She even got a tetanus shot before the race on Saturday.
I looked at some of the pictures on fb of the obstacle she was talking about, which was a firemans pole you have to slide down. In the pics on fb (see pic below) there was hay at the bottom to help you land. So I wasnt too worried about it.




We got to the dash an hour early and walked around looking at a few of the obstacles at the very end before the finish line.




Finally it was time to start and off we went with 500 others. The second obstacle was Emily and Jeremy least favorite - swimming through a cow pond. At least it cooled us down because it was very hot even at 9am. Of course that also meant we were soaking wet for the rest of the race.

Running in wet shoes, which now also had rocks in them is not very fun.

We were almost done, making better time than we had guessed we came upon the sliding pole obstacle. Emily was a little in front of us and had already climbed up but hadn't slid down yet. I yelled up to her "Don't break an ankle!"

When Jeremy and I got closer there was a man directing people to go to the other end because there was an injury! I felt horrible because this person really had broken their ankle!

Emily went down and then Jeremy. It was my turn. They were telling us to hold tightly and wrap our legs tight and squeeze the whole way down. I hopped on and squeezed or so I thought.... I guess I started going to fast and came out of my hold with my legs to try to break my fall. Well that's exactly what I did... Break my fall! I hit hard on my right leg I heard and saw my ankle was broken. Emily heard it crack as they broke.

Luckily there were people already helping the other woman who had broken hers so it didn't take long for them to assist me. I've had a cracked elbow before when I was little but don't really remember it too much but no other broken bones.

After waiting to see I was in good hands Emily took my bib off and went to finish the race so she could get our gear at gear check. She also made the lady giving finisher medals to give her 2 extras - one for me and one for Jeremy! I'm glad she did! Even though I didn't finish or "survive" I think I deserved a medal!




They loaded me and the other lady up into the ambulance to take to the ER. Once at the hospital they took X-rays and said I broke the two bones. My fibula and tibia are both broken and I will need surgery. One of them was in pieces and the other was displaced!








They called the orthopedic doctor in my hometown and they said for me to come in on Monday. I'm hoping they will go on and do the surgery on Monday. Then the doctor and nurse splinted me up
and sent me home.




I can't put any weight on my leg at all. Thankfully my parents had crutches so we picked them
up before we went home. I'm also glad we have been doing a lot of upper body lifting the past month which should help with the crutches.

Jeremy is being a wonderful nurse. I'm trying to be a good patient for him.

We spent the rest of Saturday in bed watching tv and movies. I'm sure that's how today will go as well.

Running, biking, and swimming are definitely out for a while. I won't know how long until I go to the orthopedic doctor on Monday.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

5 comments:

  1. Ugh! So sorry! That sounds like something I would do... the warnings about breaking something and then breaking something yourself! :)

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  2. oh no!! Hope that you heal up quickly and you are back to running in no time. Enjoy the upper body workout :)

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  3. oh man!! That looks so painful and scary! I hope it's a fast surgery and heal!

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  4. Oh no! This is one of my worst fears and I am doing a Foam/Mud run next weekend! Eek!No Firepoles for me

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  5. Oh Bummeer! Hope your surgery goes great and you are back to running next year. This is why I have decided not to do those kinds of races. I am convinced that would be me!

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