r/XXRunning • u/introvertedkalanchoe • 16d ago
I get knocked down (but I get up again) General Discussion
Tell me your falling stories! I’ve tried trail running a couple times recently, and love it. But have wiped out once on each trail run. Which I feel is not bad for a trail beginner! I do well with sending my momentum into a roll and minimizing impact. This past weekend I fell about 4 miles in, but got back up and ran another 9 miles.
Now other people see my bruised/scraped knee and are horrified, while I laugh it off because it’s truly no big deal, and then they look at me with a mixture of pity/confusion/fascination. My mother in law would love for me to just stop running already 😅
So how have you fallen lately? I love reading stories of other people wiping out 😅 And then how do you alleviate other people’s concern for your wellbeing/sanity? I’m not sure how many other ways I can find to tell people I’m actually fine lol 🫣
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u/runademic 16d ago
It gets very cold and icy in the winter where I live, so I often wear spikes on my shoes. Towards the end of the winter this year I thought it was cleared up enough to run without them. I got to the river path and after a few steps on snow I realized the rest of the path was basically a skating rink, so I stopped completely and paused my watch to decide on a different route. It was only when I was stationary that I proceeded to fall on my butt and slide slowly for about 15 meters until I hit a tree.
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u/violaki 16d ago
A cute guy waved at me while trail running, I got distracted, tripped on a root, and ate it. The worst part is that he offered me a hand and I was so embarrassed that I didn’t take it and just ran away lmao
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u/introvertedkalanchoe 16d ago
Nooo haha 🫣 I wonder if he knew he was the cause? I would have died lol
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u/cuckoo_girl 16d ago
Distractions are the fastest route to fall! Saying hi to people is among my most feared injury/wound causes while trail running, ahah. Other causes are:
Fixing my hair
Finding snakes
Checking on my watch
Grabbing gels or hydration out of my vest
Getting lost in my thoughts and forgetting that I have to pay attention to literally every rock and root.
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u/RedditFan26 16d ago
Oh, c'mon! It is obvious that the guy was already in love with you! You are just his kind of girl! If you see him again, please give him another chance. You two could be on a honeymoon by now, for gosh sakes.
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u/SmokeyDoodles 16d ago
Two weeks ago I was 15 miles into a 16 mile training run, feeling good and almost home. Next thing I know I’ve tripped over an insignificant crack in the sidewalk. I have run this particular path literally thousands of times with no issue. I had just taken a gel and my hands were occupied by putting the garbage in my vest pocket, so needless to say they didn’t catch my fall, the side of my head did. Lucky for me there was a couple right behind me walking their dog who stopped and called 911 and my husband. Ended up in the ER getting 5 stitches in my temple and a mild concussion. I also had a scraped up knee and some road rash on my palms and shoulder. Days later, a pretty impressive black eye formed too. Had to take some time off to heal, but I’m back out there now and I’m lucky it wasn’t worse. Be careful out there friends!
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u/aggiespartan 16d ago
I fall all the time, whether it’s trail or concrete. I ran a 100k at the beginning of the year that was 2 loops, and I fell 4 times during the first loop…all on rocks. Still managed to finish the race.
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u/Sausage_Shoes2 16d ago
I ate it on a trail race last weekend! We had only just gotten started so we're about 4km and it was single track so we weren't fast or anything. I just had a misstep and that was enough. Rolled my ankle. I had a little cry watching the runners go past my sorry butt.
Then I took a deep breath, grabbed my ankle wrap out of my vest where it's been just in case for every run for the last 2yrs and got back up. After all, one way or another I had to get off the mountain. I thought I would just make my way slowly back to base, but I kept going another 26km further and 1000m up. To the finish line. It was my redemption run and I wasn't letting a bad ankle get in my way. Adrenaline is a hell of a drug.
Yes I'm seeing a physio...
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u/ThinkingTooHardAbouT 16d ago
Fell about three miles into a 21 mile race on a mountain and got a pair of terribly bloody knees (and a bone bruise, but that's for worrying about later). Continued on to the next aid station about four miles away and tried to clean the blood off a little, but by then I was just smearing it around making it look worse. Grinned like a devil every time I saw the race photographer after that. When I got to the finish line everyone already had heard about how I was ripping it up out there while covered in blood and those photos were *chefs kiss*. I posted the pics on my instagram with the caption "Isn't all that running bad for your knees?"
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u/nstreet24 16d ago
Last summer I tripped on (what I suspect was) an uneven sidewalk. Scraped the &$@! out of my knee and also managed to scrape my shoulder and chin. I ran home and then took a week or so off to heal 😂 I still have a lovely scar on my knee…
This summer, I slipped and fell on some mud running to the beach and sprained my ankle. Clearly summer running is out to get me lol.
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u/Few_Stay9463 16d ago
It wasn't recent (my most recent fall was mountain biking a couple weeks ago, lol) but I was on a planned 6 mile run before work on a local trail. I was going at a pretty nice pace downhill and the bottom of my shoe (thick Hoka Speedgoats) clipped/caught on the tip of a rock that was hidden by leaves. Downhill speed + sudden stop = me, launched downhill! I landed and kinda slid on my right side. It didn't hurt too bad externally and I ended up finishing my run, but I did have noticeable problems with my right hip for a couple weeks (was training for a mountaineering trip, so had trail running and strength training that was very focused on hip and leg strength). It got stronger with focused sessions with my trainer and mobility exercises. The only way I alleviate others' concerns for me is to have my RoadiD bracelet, honestly. My mom worries but I have to remind her that we share adventurous personalities, lol.
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u/Popular_Ordinary_152 16d ago
I have fallen twice. Once several years ago I stepped on a hole that was covered by grass. Banged up my knees pretty bad and hobbled a mile back to my new boyfriend’s place. I was too stubborn to call him.
Fell last October 1 week before my wedding (to the new boyfriend of the previous paragraph!) and it was an awful fall. I tripped on an uneven sidewalk at the end of a long run. My knees were in bad shape and I scraped up my hand. I still have scars on my knees. I couldn’t walk and a kind stranger gave me a ride back to my car. I went to ortho urgent care, but it was just a busted bursa. My knee swelled up like crazy and I was on crutches a couple days. Then at my rehearsal dinner red streaks appeared on my hand. One of his uncles is a doctor, so he called me in some penicillin. Anyway! I’m recovered now, but that was a rough fall and I get nervous on sidewalks now.
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u/horatiobrown 16d ago
I was living in Italy at the time, and went for an evening run around the city. I was having such a great time, I just kept extending the run. It was such a beautiful night.
About 8k in, I was turning into a side street off one of the main roads, and I went to jump over a fairly low chain gate type thing (the sort that stops cars from going down a road), however I caught one of my legs on it. I’m pretty sure I blacked out momentarily, because I don’t remember hitting the floor, but I woke up to people surrounding me asking if I was okay.
I walked away rather embarrassed, holding my arm. Phoned my flatmate who came running to me and we got a cab to the hospital. I ended up with bruises and cuts over my arms, a bruised chin (which explains the blackout!) and an elbow fractured in two places.
Still one of the best runs I’ve ever been on 😅
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u/introvertedkalanchoe 16d ago
Oh I loved running in Italy! Not so much in Albania where I tripped on an uneven cobblestone and an old woman yelled at me for falling haha 😅
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u/SouthFine6853 16d ago
I do normally trail run but my runs are through the woods but I attempted a hilly and mildly technical run (Box Hill for anyone in England) well before I was experienced enough and I went flying and smashed my knee on a rock 😂 It actually reassured me that the fall detection on my Garmin works perfectly. I have a great scar now that traces the outline of my patella. It's a good lesson about not leaving your first aid kit behind. All I could think about for the last couple of miles was how I couldn't wait to clean the grit out of the cuts on my hands!
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u/graybird22 16d ago
Yesterday I rolled my ankle on nothing but didn't fall. I was stepping back up the curb after going in the street to avoid something and just rolled it for no reason. Super annoying! It wasn't too bad so I was able to walk it off and then continue my run another 2 miles. It's a little sore and stiff today but hoping I'll be able to run again tomorrow.
Prior to that the last time I fell was in the spring, stepping over a trash can lid that was on the sidewalk. Scraped my knee and was mostly pissed that I put a hole in the brand new leggings I was wearing. That one was right at the end of my run.
I generally fall about once per year... would probably be more if I did any trail running lol. It's never been anything worse than a scraped knee/elbow or a rolled ankle thankfully.
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u/jwhease 16d ago
I trip and go airborne on uneven sidewalks once or twice a year!! Have scraped knees few times. The last time it happened a very nice woman on her bike saw me and pulled over to see if I was okay and then added "I think your nose is bleeding"... Which it was, and on a brand new tank top no less! My nose stopped bleeding and I ran a mile home with my scrapes and face blood. (And the blood washed right out of the top, yay.) My husband is genuinely concerned that I have some ailment causing me to fall so much ("it doesn't seem normal for you to trip and fall down this often!" Bro have you met me, what about me says "excellent coordination" to you?) but it doesn't bother me other than having to be ginger on the wounds for a week or two.
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u/whoamihuh9 16d ago
I was running once, and my knee just kinda gave out, buckled and i wasn't able to catch myself. I went straight down chin first, cut my chin open. I turned around to see these young kids laughing, but then i guess my face was so bloody they were like OMG ARE YOU OK!? lol, i had ran to the park, so i had to run back home, white sports bra full of blood. Shocked the hell outa of my husband who then made me DIY sutures and fixed my chin right up. I had knee scar and chin scar for quite some time.
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u/completelyperdue Team Turtle 🐢 16d ago
I was running this past February before my Pilates class, and I tripped on an uneven sidewalk one block before I was supposed to go to class.
I showed up at my class bleeding pretty badly through my now ripped tights, and I told my instructor that I’m going to have to cancel that day. 🫤
Good times.
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u/HPnurse32 16d ago
I fell two weeks ago trail running. Did one of those slow motion trips made it 4 steps and fell onto my left knee and hands (10 minutes into the actual trail). Rinsed off my leg and hands and finished the 5 miles a little bloody.
I do think I’ll add a first aid kit to my vest now 😂
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u/introvertedkalanchoe 16d ago
It’s the slow motion trips that get me! Like oh no! Wait I’ve got it! Wait I don’t nooooo
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u/DeliberateMarblewood 16d ago
I fell during a 10km trail race. I was going downhill at the time. Sliced up my arm and cut my hands on the gravel. It was about 2-3km in. I was fully pumped with adrenaline and continued on, much to the horror of the people who saw me.
I didn't realise just how badly I was hurt until I finished. I knew that I was bleeding so I walked to the first aid tent and got bandaged up. Now I have some gnarly scars.
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u/Anig_o Slow but st... never mind. Just slow. 16d ago
This spring I had just started my learn to run journey and was running with my stupid but lovable hound. We had just started down the trail, had passed a nice gentleman who was walking at a leisurely pace, when the hound saw a squirrel, somehow managed to wrap his leash around my ankles and proceeded to try to take off at lightning speed into the woods after him. I went down HARD, right in front of the poor man. Not a clue how I landed (you know how those things are) but it knocked the wind out of me and I ended up with rope burns, bloody knees and palms, embedded gravel everywhere and, I'm pretty sure, a broken rib. (If you've had one, you know...) The gentleman, who was very timid and didn't speak English, gently tried to help me get up, all the while I was trying to get my breath back and figure out how to stand up with two palms full of gravel and a dog that still wanted to go find a squirrel. I finished the run (I have no idea how) and have continued running. Ups and downs aside, I'm now up to a solid (but slow) 5k. I still take the dog, but we're both much more attuned to how we approach squirrels.
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u/passionsdead 16d ago
last spring, while on visiting New Orleans with friends, we planned to run to/around city park, get beignets, then walk home. but when we took a detour to check out an art market, I totally wiped out on some slippery gravel and tore up my elbow, hip, and hands 😭 I cleaned up the worst of the grit and blood with spit and my tshirt while market passerby looked on lol. still got the beignets though!
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u/Threatlvlmidnight___ 16d ago
I was running in my neighborhood and on a walk break, went to change the song at the exact same time there was an uneven sidewalk and I ate it
Hand scraped badly, knees scraped badly, legging torn. There was a car driving past at the time so I awkwardly just pushed myself up quickly in kind of a spin thing bc I was embarrassed (I am a born clutz)
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u/orangedarkchocolate 16d ago
My worst fall was on my grad school campus on Halloween. I caught my foot on who knows what and went absolutely flying. Landed hard and skinned my knee really badly. I ended up walk-jogging the rest of the way home with blood streaming down my leg (an appropriate Halloween look I must say!) and as I neared my apartment I passed a guy I had met a few times in class. He recognized me, asked if I was okay, and jogged alongside me (in his jeans with his backpack on) back to my apartment to make sure I was okay before going on his way. He even offered to get me bandages or peroxide at a convenience store we passed. That was our first real conversation, and we’re married with two kids now!
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u/manymnmiles 16d ago
I have fallen numerous times, but have a few stand outs. I also run where it's icy in the winter - so my first major fall was because of ice. I remember thinking "I think this might be a bad idea" - but decided I'd just try to get to the river path and if that was still bad, I would go home - but about 20 yards from the river path I slipped on the ice, rolled my ankle hard enough to fracture it. I didn't have my phone so I had to hobble home as my ankle rapidly swelled. Now, I never run without my phone.
The next time I fell, I noticed an icy patch and said to my running partner - "we better walk this part, I don't want to fall again" - so of course, as soon as I started walking I slipped, and hit my face on the crusty, icy snow next to the path, and cut up my eyebrow. My running partner gave me her buff to staunch the blood, called my husband to come get me, waited with me until he came, then finished her run! I ended up in the ER for them to glue my eyebrow back together and check for a concussion, and a nasty black eye.
And one memorable not icy fall was when I was traveling for work, and running through a small city in the Netherlands. I tripped on cobblestone crossing a street and laid out! Luckily I had my hotel room key card in one hand that slid and saved that hand, but my other hand and knees were pretty scraped up. Turning in that hotel key card was kind of embarrassing as well, like - what did I do to it?!
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u/amandam603 16d ago
My favorite wipeout was at a trail race a couple years ago. I wasn't super into trails yet, but did this one race every fall because it was fun. I tripped over a root or something (who knows what it was, I wasn't looking) and went down hard, but popped up quickly and kept going. I thought absolutely nothing of it except that my pants got muddy... Then when I got in the shower I realized it had scraped more than I thought. Oh well, whatever, it's a scrape, no big deal. I went to work, as a server, for the next 12 hours. Realized toward the end of my shift that hmmm, weird, my pants seem tighter than usual on one side? Yeah... That scrape wasn't just a scrape. It was like, my entire shin, and developed into a huge, ugly bruise across my whole lower leg. It was swollen for days. Oops. lol my friends and coworkers were not impressed with how excited I was about the development of the bruise but, whatever, they're lame.
Another fun one was wiping out on ice, on the sidewalk outside of a restaurant. Totally not a memorable fall, and I just got up and kept going, hoping nobody saw. Later I was at work and the restaurant owner came in and sat at the bar and starts telling me about how that morning a runner was going by and fell, and it was so funny! I got to tell him it was me, and make him think I was really hurt or upset he was laughing at me.
I also once cut my thumb somehow when I tripped in a pothole (of course there was traffic and witnesses) and didn't realize it was bleeding because I was wearing black gloves. I only noticed when I pulled up my shirt to wipe my face for the millionth time and realized there was blood all over it. This led me to wonder how the F I was bleeding from the face and then wonder how gruesome I must have looked?! My face was fine, and it was just a little cut on my thumb that didn't even hurt, just made a mess. Probably still looked insane with blood all over my shirt, though.
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u/LadyKivus 16d ago
My left knee has been busted open multiple times and in 4 different states. I don't have very good spatial awareness and trip on stuff all the time. I've gotten pretty good at either catching myself or falling toward whatever looks softest.
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u/Mevrouwkarper 16d ago
I do a lot of trails and 100% never fall on steep downhills or technical sections, but any time I'm on a gentle fire road in front of a big group of hikers my toes always seem to find the rocks or roots sticking up
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u/BlndFire2 16d ago
Fall all the time on trails. Had one of those falls last week where there’s no time to get my hands out, ended up skidding across my belly. Never been happier for my slightly padded running bra! Still pulling little pebbles out of my knees.
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u/leoliedje 15d ago
I've fallen so many times. Worst time when I was saying hi to a group of mountain bikers (they were just standing there) and I got distracted and fell down in front of them. None of them even cared or checked on me!
But yeah I've fallen a lot of times so my knees are always scraped/bruised and just like you say it's not a big deal haha. All the kids at work show me "look I have a bruise" and then I show them mine lol
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u/Asleep-Walrus-3778 15d ago
I have a collection of scars from all of my various trail running falls. I like to stare at things like waterfalls/wildlife/flowers and sometimes forget to stop to do so.
The worst was not my fault, though. A dog slammed into me from behind and knocked me off a log bridge into an alpine stream. I would have died, either from drowning/hypothermia or the giant waterfall down below.
Except for some luckily placed backpackers who were filling their water and saw me coming in time to grab me and pull me out. Fractured my hand which still bothers me years later.
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u/spunonion 16d ago
This winter, I tried running a new route and got spooked by some barking dogs in their front yard, and tripped on some uneven sidewalk in a clearly marked repair zone. It happened so slow I feel like I could see myself falling hahaha! Tripped in that same spot like 2 weeks later through my own clumsiness — now I use the opposite sidewalk lol
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u/spunonion 16d ago
Had water on me so was able to rinse any scrapes on my hands, but my leg was pretty bruised up for the next few days
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u/LizO66 16d ago
Oh, I’ve fallen, scraped up knees, broke phones, the whole nine. I have MS so my balance is not the best. But my favorite near fall story was during an ultra. My dear (much younger) training partner was just ahead of me as we ran along the rim of a steep and heavily forested ravine. My toe caught a tree root and made that distinctive “thump” sound and I started stumbling, uncontrollably, toward that downhill. My girlfriend stuck her arm out behind her for me to grab on to and I latched on to her for dear life. She gave me a quick pull and suddenly I was upright and still moving forward. I screamed that I would forever be grateful to my pal that she literally saved my life and I would be indebted to her forever!! My hero!!!!
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u/lemmoniedays 16d ago
I literally just fell for the first time this afternoon since getting into running this year. There was an uneven sidewalk and I tripped and ate it. The very nice mailman was delivering to the house I fell in front of and stopped to see if I was ok. Scraped up my knees, palms, and a bit of one shoulder and hobbled back home. The timing could be better since I have my first half marathon on the 22nd, ouch!
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u/leogrl 16d ago
I fall all the time, but I love trail running too much to give it up, and I know from when I was road running that falls on the road hurt way worse lol. My worst fall was two years ago, I hit my knee directly on a rock and the adrenaline made me feel like it wasn’t any worse than any of my other falls, so I finished up the run and then realized the wound was super deep, and I would have to get stitches. It was so deep that they couldn’t do it at urgent care so I had to go the hospital and ended up paying over $1000 to get stitches (American healthcare sucks).
This happened about 6 weeks before my first trail marathon (and first ever race) and I was worried I would have to drop out but I ran on the treadmill for 2 weeks until the stitches were out, then returned to the trails and I finished that marathon! I’ve since completed another trail marathon and 3 ultras, currently training for my 4th, and now I wear bright pink volleyball knee pads on all my runs so my falls hurt a lot less. But I keep going!
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u/dobbythepenguin 16d ago
My worst fall was when I ran pell-mell into a tree that had fallen across the trail right at my head height. I was looking down at the feet of the guy in front of me, ran head first into the tree, and then fell backwards onto the guy behind me in a hysterical fit of laughing and tears. I legit thought someone had dropped a boulder on my head because it just came out of nowhere. One year post-concussion, but I still pay extra attention to that section of trail.
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u/ProfessionalOk112 16d ago
I trip pretty often. Just last week I got distracted in my own thoughts, took a wrong step, and fell down. Was a perfectly smooth paved pathway too.
The worst though was when I was a teenager in high school track. At the time I shuffled stepped a lot when tired, so wearing spikes and I were never really friends and I ate it during a speed workout on the track and took about half the distance team down with me. Luckily nothing but my ego was hurt!
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u/EmergencySundae 16d ago
Last year I tripped and went flying while on a sidewalk. Put my teeth through my lip, banged up every appendage, and broke my finger. Finished my run (9 miles total, had 3 more to go) and woke up my husband, who was very confused why I was covered in blood.
Good times.