What if...(by Coach Abby)

...you were on a run, headed for the East River Park, traversing through the Lower East Side and *BOOM* you suddenly find yourself tumbling head-over-feet-over-head and landing smack dab in the middle of Chrystie and Houston. Damn potholes! Battered and bruised, you pick yourself up (because no one has seemed to stop and help) and limp to the nearest Duane Reade for Band Aids and alcohol swabs.

OR

You are running the last 3/4 of a mile of a 5 mile run and take a turn to run parallel to the elevated FDR Drive when *TWACK* a rouge pebble smacks you right between the eyes. Luckily, you are not bleeding, you are not dizzy and so you continue on your way home to check for massive bruising and a very ugly battle wound.

Friends, s#@* happens. It just does. Both of these scenarios happened to me in the last three months. I kid you not, that pebble came flying off the FDR and I never saw it, not even after it landed. Seriously. Lucky for me, I was never so seriously hurt that I couldn't attend to my own wounds. My clumsiness and bad luck aside, I am pretty sure that most of us have tripped, fallen, been knocked around by a bicyclist or a car, or had some such near death experience while running. It happens. In light of Runner Girl's post about the tremendous heat this past weekend, I thought it'd be a good time to bring up this topic.

When Trisha Meili, the Central Park Jogger, was found near death in the woods of Central Park they couldn't identify her. Her face was so severely beaten that she couldn't be identified through pictures. She was a single woman and no one knew she had gone out for a midnight run (A MIDNIGHT RUN-I SWEAR, IF I EVER HEAR OF ANY OF YOU LADIES DOING THIS I WILL CHASE YOU DOWN, HOG TIE YOU AND MAKE YOU WATCH PAULY SHORE MOVIES TIL YOU PROMISE TO ONLY RUN IN THE DAYLIGHT OR WITH SEVERAL PEOPLE!!!). For almost two weeks she went unidentified.

You may be thinking, "my husband/wife will know I've gone for a run" and you're probably right. But, where did you go? How long should you have been gone? When do they start to worry that you've been gone too long? And, if you live in a city like New York that has dozens of hospitals on the island of Manhattan alone, where might you be taken if you were hurt, injured or in need of medical attention and unable to speak for yourself? In the heat of the summer your body can turn on you in an instant and, before you know it or can do anything about it, you can develope heat exhaustion or heat stroke and pass out. Oh, wait, I had heat exhaustion, too. Yup--not fun, people, and very dangerous. What if, in the winter months, you go out for a run and find yourself semi-conscious after having fallen on a patch of black ice. I've never experienced frostbite but I hear it's not that enjoyable.

I am not endorsing this company and get no proceeds or anything from them, but I am buying an ID tag for myself and one for my hubby-to-be. It's got my name, my home city, three In Case of Emergency names and phone numbers, my blood type and a note than I am not allergic to any medications. They're $20 and some of the proceeds go to a charity that you choose. That's pretty cool. Here's the link:

http://www.roadid.com/common/id.aspx

You know why? Because it helps my partner to worry less when I'm gone. Because I'm O Negative and can't have any other blood than that. Because New York is a big city and when I decide Manhattan is too small for a long run and head to Brooklyn, I really am far away from home. Because I've fallen more than once while running. Because I've known people who could've used it in an emergency. Because I like to run for a long time and push myself and feel safe doing it. Because I don't love to run with my Drivers License in my pocket on account of I forget to take it back out and then I wash it and then it fades and then I have to buy a new Drivers License and it's a pain in the butt.

I'm not your Mom but let me tell it to you straight, s#@* happens. Get the ID tag or something like it. Seriously.

Run safe--
Coach Abby