Running May Be Dangerous to Your Health

My friend was hit by a car on a very narrow two way street where there were a lot of runners, cyclists, and on this day a cancer fundraiser walk. During the summer, this street is usually closed down by the police from 9 a.m. till noon on weekends, but not today. I’m guessing it was open to traffic this weekend because officially, it’s not summer anymore. There you are minding your own business while running down a street close to the curb as possible, then a car clips you. I mean, how can you defend against that? I didn’t witness it because I was about a mile behind her so by the time I reached the same spot, she had gone on to finish and the car had gone on its way. When Linda and I got to the finish, I noticed that Sophie seemed preoccupied and with a look of concern on her face. Thinking she was busy with something else, I didn’t ask her right away what was going on even though I saw her icing her arm. I thought maybe she fell or bumped into something. When I finally heard what happened I was shocked and didn’t really know how to react to the news. She looked okay from the outside with no obvious cuts or scrapes, but muscular pain runs deeper and the bruises come much later. She and her friend were waiting for the police to arrive so they could file a report, but the cops were occupied with another call, so it took awhile for them to get there. A police car finally arrived as most of the AREC members had left so I hope she had everything taken cared of. I have to admire my friends tenacity, she ran two more miles to the finish from where she was hit by the car. I wish her well. Take care Sophie, I hope you haven’t suffered anything serious.

My run with Linda went well although she had some breathing problems at about 10 miles probably due to her doctor reducing her asthma and allergy medications. I’m pretty sure, the blistering pace we set contributed to that too. We were 15 seconds per mile faster today than we did the same course and distance two weeks ago. I knew we were running hard but not so hard as to go below two hours for the 12 miles, using the run/walk method. I’m beginning to like this Jeff Galloway method of training a lot.