Life as a Visual Storyteller—Episode 35—13th August, 2015: Battered and Shredded and Feeling Stupid about my Attitude

It was my own fault. I was fiddling with my earphones at the start of my run. I should have stopped. Instead, I kept going and took my eyes off the path. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

Next thing I know, I'm hitting the pavement hard—very hard. I roll, I think. That much instinct I still had.

Time slows down.

I right myself on to one of my knees. Pain everywhere, burning.

I stand up.

Nothing broken. I turn back and walk home.

The palms of my hands are a sight. Torn and peeled skin hangs from my left hand. My right looks better, but has stones in it, I think. They are both bleeding.

So is my left knee. Quite badly.

The side of my left shin looks as if someone has taken a cheese grater to it. It's a mash of fleshy ribbons, dark soil and blood. Lots of blood.

My left shoulder is scratched badly. Ditto my left hip. A patch of skin on my left elbow the size of a two-euro coin has been sliced off.

There is a sharp pain in my right wrist. I think it took the full force of the fall. I hope it's only bruised.

I try to run, to test the legs. I'm rewarded with a shooting pain in my right calf. Damnit! To top it all off, my recurring injury is back—strained in the stumbling fall.

I hurt a lot. And I'm angry with myself.

I really needed to go running. Now I won't be running for a week at least. And I won't be swimming for much longer than that. My skin will need to be healed before I go back in the pool.

I'm disheartened because I had just become comfortable with 2km swims. And my long run was up to 12.5km.

All because I was fixing my earphones instead of looking where I was going.

The day should have been one of celebration. I finished a very challenging video for Show & Tell. That's a separate post. Instead, I just want to sit quietly and brood.

Idiot.

Idiot.

Idiot for not appreciating how lucky I am to have limbs to sheer the skin off.

I mean, consider the incredible impact a man like Nick Vujicic is having without limbs. I feel embarrassed. #nickvujicic #injury #stopmotion #animation