July 29, 2025 • 22 mins
Hey Running Friends!
I share the harrowing experience of being hit by a car while running on a sidewalk two years ago and my ongoing journey to recovery both physically and mentally.
If running is something you truly have passion for, seek out every avenue to keep it in your life after setbacks. The people who can help you get back to what you love - doctors, physical therapists, counselors - are worth investing in.
If you are looking for a coach to help you reach your running goals, even if it's just to start to run, take a look at my Coaching Services page on the website. I do virtual, in-person (Buffalo, NY area) and also offer single zoom sessions for those would just like to chat with a coach one time.
I am also a Personal Trainer, and offer virtual training as well, in addition to Nutrition Coaching.
Find my additional outlets over at the YouTube channel and at wrinkledrunner.com. Sign up over on the blog for the once-a-month newsletter! If you would like information on utilizing a running coach, check out what I can do for you here.
If you have any running-related questions, please send an email to sherry@wrinkledrunner.com…I answer every one.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey there and welcome back to the Wrinkled Runner
podcast.
Today I'm going to be telling astory, actually about the time
I was hit by a car, which was inApril of 2023.
So it's been two years, overtwo years, and I'm still trying
to figure out the things thatare kind of going on in my body,
(00:22):
if they're age or there aresome things going on that I do
think is a result of the caraccident and how I landed.
So to go back to the day, itwas actually the first warm day
that I was wearing a shortsleeve shirt.
I was wearing a brand new shortsleeve shirt and I was going
(00:44):
out for a nine mile run.
Now I had already signed up forthe Charlotte Marathon, but
that wasn't going to be untilthe first week of November of
that year.
So this was just kind of likebuilding up to the build up to
the marathon, training kind ofthing.
I was running along, I was onthe sidewalk and I saw a car
(01:04):
that was speeding and it wascoming down the street under a
viaduct near where I live and Iwas only like three miles into
the run and I remember seeing acar come out really fast.
He was making a left from aside street.
When I saw this happening Ithought, oh, this is going to be
(01:25):
an accident, I'm going to seethis accident happen and I'm
going to have to stop because AI am first aid CPR trained and
also as a witness to theaccident.
But what actually happened waswhen the car came out of the
side street to go across andthen the other car that was
(01:46):
speeding hit that car.
The car came out of the sidestreet to go across and then the
other car that was speeding hitthat car.
The car actually spun andheaded straight for me.
So what I remember was Iremember thinking, oh my gosh,
dave is going to be so upsetthat I'm dead.
And then I remember the car justjust coming towards me and I
(02:09):
actually have a video of theaccident because it was right in
front of an apartment apartmentcomplex that had cameras.
I kind of jumped a little bitout of the way, but it still.
It still hit me straight on andI went flying.
This I don't remember Watchingthe video.
I landed on my butt and but myhead went back and I didn't.
(02:34):
I don't remember any of this,so I thought I had been blacked
out for a while.
But looking at the video itlooks like I sat up rather
quickly and then when I did situp, I I could not believe how
many people were suddenly there.
(02:54):
Like when I was running itdidn't seem like there was
anybody around and as soon as Igot hit there were just people
coming out of the woodwork and Iremember them making me lie
down and holding there was asomebody that was holding my
head, trying to keep it in place.
So the car when it hit me,after it hit me, flipped onto
(03:17):
its side and slid and thenstopped.
And thank goodness when I washit, you know it didn't like
drag me under, because Idefinitely would not be here
right now if it had dragged meunder.
It just slid on its side.
I don't know I'm bad with likefeet and stuff, but probably 10
feet, something like that 10, 15feet.
(03:38):
And because of it being on itsside like this, I could see the
gas or some fluid leaking out ofthe car and I remember telling
all the people taking care of mecan we like move back away from
this car?
And there was.
My Garmin had flown off me andmy phone went flying, but there
(04:02):
was a guy there who took myphone and asked me if he could
call somebody.
I gave him some gibberish phonenumber that had nothing to do
with my husband's phone number.
I still don't know where Ipulled that number out of, but
it wasn't Dave and they werealso asking me like what year it
was, which I did not know.
(04:22):
Things like that.
I don't remember how he got tobecause my face wouldn't work.
My face was so banged up itwouldn't work for them to unlock
my phone.
I think in my ice emergencything that you have on your
phone, I actually did fill outall the information and so I
think that's how they found himand called him.
(04:45):
Some of the people aroundthought that I had been ejected
from one of the cars, but thensomeone had actually seen the
accident happen and they're likeno, she was on the sidewalk
when it happened.
I think what made the car flipwas it wasn't even like a
driveway I was hit in, it wasjust like full on sidewalk and I
think they hit the curb andthen hit me and then flipped.
(05:05):
Then I remember the police werethere, but the by then the
ambulance had gotten there aswell and, you know, loaded me up
in the back of the ambulance.
They had to cut everything offof me, and so I also remember
being very annoyed that I wasonly able to wear this shirt
once, and now it was going to becut.
(05:27):
I would never be able to wearit again.
They were asking me again youknow what year it was?
Well, here's the thing, becauseI already knew when they asked
me before and I got it wrong.
And then they kept kind ofprompting I knew the answer to
that question, prompting I knewthe answer to that question, and
then they asked me again at thehospital what you know, what
(05:53):
year it was.
And so in my thinking, I'm likeyou know, there should be
different questions as you gothrough the system, right, like
so, if you're a first responderin an ambulance, whatever, this
is your, this is a question youcan ask to assess, you know
what's going on, and then, onceyou get to the hospital, ask a
different question, because Ihave no idea if I would have
(06:13):
known what year it was by thetime I got to the hospital or
not.
I just had already known theanswer because I was told what
the answer was back at the scene.
So anyway, just a little sidenote.
If you happen to be in themedical profession, that might
be something interesting tostudy or look at.
So I just remember seeing outthe window driving really fast
(06:37):
and getting me to the hospital.
Once I got there, it was just amad rush of a full body scan and
CTs and you know all this, allthis stuff.
So finally I was in myemergency room bed and Dave
actually had gotten therealready.
(06:57):
He had gotten the phone callthat I was in a car accident and
, because of of how it wasworded, I didn't have a car at
that time, but mydaughter-in-law and son were
living with us, and so hethought maybe it was my
daughter-in-law and my grandson.
You know he's wondering wherethey are in all of this.
And then, but finally helearned that I was actually hit
(07:20):
by a car as a pedestrian, butfor some reason he was out there
for a long time.
They finally he finally asked,and then they let him come back
in the emergency room and I hada broken nose, there was a huge
bruise on my one hip, and then Ialso got an air embolism around
(07:41):
my heart, an air embolismaround my heart, and so I had to
be on oxygen, for I think itwas.
I think it must have been 24hours.
I was on oxygen for a long timeand it was so annoying because
it was.
I hate the feeling of thatlittle tiny tube inside your
nose.
It feels like it's like goingright up to your brain.
The air was just blowing intomy ears.
(08:03):
At the same time, the pain nursecame in and what I thought she
asked me was how long it hadbeen since I had taken anything
like Oxycontin.
What I think she actually askedme was did I ever have a
problem with it, like gotaddicted to it?
And my answer was, oh, not for20 years.
(08:23):
So you know they wouldn't giveme it for the rest of the time
and I couldn't.
They didn't give me aprescription or anything.
And then, looking back on whatI thought she said versus what I
think she actually said, itexplains why I was only getting
like Tylenol.
So hopefully in my recordsomewhere there isn't like this
(08:45):
declaration that I ever had aproblem with Oxycontin.
Actually, I have the oppositeproblem I don't like taking it,
and so usually when I wasprescribed it I barely took any.
So anyway, I was in theemergency room till late that
night and then they took me intoa regular room and it was such
(09:09):
a nice room.
So where they, where I had gone, was ECMC, which is the county
hospital, and you know if you'rein Buffalo you know it doesn't
have a great reputation, butthis room was great.
It had it was a private room.
It had a desk person that hadbeen holding my head when I got
(09:49):
hit by the car so she had seenthe accident from the window.
She lived in the apartments atwhere this had happened and she
was asking if she could come andtalk to me and come see me, and
it was just so cool to be ableto meet someone that was
involved in helping me.
When I first went down I was sograteful.
(10:12):
It was great to be able tothank her properly and just talk
to her, and that was reallycool.
I thought that was great.
The other thing that I thoughtwas nice two things actually
they now have in the hospitaland this might be TMI, but they
have these little vacuum thingsinstead of putting a catheter in
(10:32):
.
Catheters are the bane of myexistence.
I had to have one with each ofmy kids because I had C-sections
for all five of them and myurethra is apparently short.
So when I have a catheter itjust feels like I have to go to
the bathroom all the time.
It's awful, but these littlevacuum things just stay there
(10:54):
and you can just go to thebathroom and it just sucks it
all away.
It's great If you if you everhospitalized and you have that
option take the option, becauseit's so much more comfortable
and I didn't have any accidentswith it.
It was super cool.
So hopefully, if you take myadvice, you don't either.
But the other thing that wasreally cool was, instead of
(11:16):
being attached to a big polethat has all of your vitals to
it, it it was just this compactlittle the size of like a phone
that had everything plugged intoit.
So instead of having to sleeplike on my back, which I never
do, I was able to sleep on myside because of this, this
(11:37):
little pack that had all thevitals going on on that.
So that was another thing thatI thought was really really cool
.
So when Dave came to visit me,he was.
I wanted to see if my garmentwas had been broken, because it
had flown off and it was stillrunning.
Six hours later it was stillrunning.
(12:00):
So it was saying that it tookme six hours to do three miles.
So, needless to say, Idiscarded that workout.
What I?
What was crazy to me is it flewoff of my wrist when I got hit
but didn't like record.
You know how it has thatemergency thing, like I have
clapped my hands and it'll startthe emergency countdown where,
(12:21):
if you don't, if you don't tellit to stop, it's going to make
those emergency phone calls justclapping my hands.
I actually do get hit by a carand the thing runs for six more
hours and doesn't say that I hadgotten into this accident.
You know there was no abruptstop.
So anyway, that was crazy.
So I was in the hospital forthree days.
(12:43):
It could have been two, but Ifailed the walking test where I
wasn't going to fall over, so Ihad to stay in there overnight
for another day.
The recovery from that was, youknow, I couldn't run for three
weeks.
My hip was bruised, my nosefelt awful.
I could not get all the bloodout of my nose.
(13:05):
For days.
Face was just just black andblue under my eyes.
I mean, everything was just amess.
I was wearing masks and hadlots of makeup and the parts
that could show just for atleast two weeks.
It was just crazy.
And then when I started runningagain, you know I had to go
(13:29):
very, very slow, I had to bevery careful.
I went to the chiropractor, Iwant to say for eight months,
because when I landed I reallyshoved a lot of things out of
place and now my issues are alot of hip issues, piriformis
(13:50):
issues, a groin issue which Inever had felt my groin before
ever, and all these things Ithink are because of how I
landed on my, the way I landedon my back and butt area, on my,
the way I landed on my back andbutt area.
So you know, you can do all theright things run on the
(14:13):
sidewalk, you know, not crossthe street unless it's out of
light, all the safety things,and still things can happen that
just can come out of the clearblue sky.
I think the fact that I'm arunner saved me, you know,
allowed me to have the reflexesand the fitness to jump enough
out of the way that it wasn'tfatal.
But well, on the other hand,you know I was out for a run.
(14:35):
So being a runner did alsocontribute to being in the
accident.
Being in the accident, of courseyou know, after even it was
about a year, after almost ayear, I still could not cross
(14:57):
streets without panicking.
I could not be in a car,especially on the thruway,
without thinking that a car wasgoing to just come ramming into
the car.
It was pretty severe PTSD andit just ended up getting worse
and worse.
I could run, but it wasterrifying just crossing streets
and so I ended up having to seea counselor.
(15:21):
For about that was probablyeight months that I saw the
counselor and we worked ontrying to visualize that people
are trying to be safe, trying toget me to just think about
other things, be distracted.
You know we tried a bunch ofstuff and I did start feeling
better about being in the car.
(15:42):
I still will have some of thatwhen we're in a car, especially
on the thruway.
I do not like the three lanesreally get to me, especially if
we're on a outside lane andwe're going to move into the
middle lane.
I get very panicked that thepeople in the opposite outer
lane are going to also come overat the same time.
(16:03):
I don't know that that's evergoing to go away, but through
ways are very, very tough for me.
Running, not so much running.
I really I'm okay with that.
Now I can cross the street andnot fear that you know that a
car is just going to come out ofnowhere.
I am starting marathon training.
(16:24):
I'm working on just the groinstuff and the hip stuff.
One thing that's interesting isI found out that when I was
running the buildup not theactual training, but the buildup
to it I was getting severegroin pain and hip pain where I
couldn't run and I'd have totake multiple rest days, and it
(16:45):
was really discouraging.
Just a couple weeks ago, Idecided not to take my phone on
a run with me, with my husband.
It was just going to be threemiles.
It was 530 in the morning, soyou know who's going to text me
then.
So we went for the run and Ididn't feel any pain.
It was, it was nice, I feltnothing.
And then I was walking over tomy son's house and I use a flip
(17:09):
belt that I can store my phonein, and as I'm walking I'm
starting to get really bad groinpain again and I'm like that's
so weird that I would have itnow when I'm just walking
instead of running.
And so I took the belt off andthe pain started being
(17:32):
alleviated so now.
So I was like I'm going to notrun with that belt and see if
that's causing this pain, and soI didn't run with it then, and
I really believe that I hadgotten a new phone.
It's it's bigger than my otherone and heavier, and I really
(17:54):
think it is when I wear thatbelt and have the phone on my
back that there must be part ofit that's pushing on some kind
of nerve, bundle or muscle orsomething that is referring this
pain into my groin, becausewhen I don't run, when I run
(18:15):
without that, I'm fine.
So now I have to figure out,you know what.
Am I going to run with alightweight vest?
Am I going to get an armbandfor my phone?
Am I going to do a handheldwater bottle, which I absolutely
hate, hate, hate, hate.
So but it's just interesting,because I was all ready to go to
(18:37):
the session for PT to figureout what, you know, what I could
do for this pain, and if I hadcontinued to wear the belt, I
don't know that the exercisesand the things that they would
have me do would actually havemade a difference.
So it's, it's annoying, you knowthat, that these things happen
(19:00):
that are out of your control,that just affect your life and
affect what you do.
You know wearing I talked aboutwearing a lightweight vest.
I was trying to wear ahydration vest and the pressure
on my back, in between myshoulder blades, just since the
accident I just really I can'tdo that or I have to have much
(19:23):
less water in the bladder than Iwould like.
These setbacks and these thingsthat happen can really get you
discouraged.
But you know I stuck with thePTSD stuff and going to the
chiropractor.
I got through the marathon inNovember.
It was, you know, my slowest,but I got through it.
Rather than quit and let thattake over my life, I absolutely
(19:47):
did want to get back to therunning.
Whatever happens, if running isstill a possibility, I would
really encourage you to do whatyou need to do to get back.
You know, use your doctors, usephysical therapists, use
counselors and make sure thatyou do everything that you can
(20:09):
to get back.
It might not be the same, itmight look a little different
than it did before an illness oran accident or some other
setback in your life that youmay have.
But if running is something thatyou really, really, really have
a passion for, then seek outthe avenues in order to keep
(20:31):
that in your life, because onceyou're on the other side, you're
going to be very, very happythat you did that, and the
sooner you get those people onyour side that can help you get
to that point, the better youknow you don't want to be in the
cycle where you just stoprunning and then it just gets so
(20:52):
hard to start up again.
Then you get discouraged becauseyou have so much more to go
before you reach fitness again.
Don't compare yourself to howyou were pre-accident.
I'm always still hopeful that Iwill be able to PR a marathon.
If that doesn't happen, thenit's also okay, because I'm
(21:13):
still running marathons and I'mstill here.
If you look at the video, youcan see that if I was over
another few inches I probablywould not be here and I
certainly would not be here inthe same capacity as I was
pre-accident.
Just an encouragement to keepon keeping on and keep doing the
(21:34):
things that you need to getback to running.
Hey there and welcome back to the Wrinkled Runner
podcast.
Today I'm going to be telling astory, actually about the time
I was hit by a car, which was inApril of 2023.
So it's been two years, overtwo years, and I'm still trying
to figure out the things thatare kind of going on in my body,
(00:22):
if they're age or there aresome things going on that I do
think is a result of the caraccident and how I landed.
So to go back to the day, itwas actually the first warm day
that I was wearing a shortsleeve shirt.
I was wearing a brand new shortsleeve shirt and I was going
(00:44):
out for a nine mile run.
Now I had already signed up forthe Charlotte Marathon, but
that wasn't going to be untilthe first week of November of
that year.
So this was just kind of likebuilding up to the build up to
the marathon, training kind ofthing.
I was running along, I was onthe sidewalk and I saw a car
(01:04):
that was speeding and it wascoming down the street under a
viaduct near where I live and Iwas only like three miles into
the run and I remember seeing acar come out really fast.
He was making a left from aside street.
When I saw this happening Ithought, oh, this is going to be
(01:25):
an accident, I'm going to seethis accident happen and I'm
going to have to stop because AI am first aid CPR trained and
also as a witness to theaccident.
But what actually happened waswhen the car came out of the
side street to go across andthen the other car that was
(01:46):
speeding hit that car.
The car came out of the sidestreet to go across and then the
other car that was speeding hitthat car.
The car actually spun andheaded straight for me.
So what I remember was Iremember thinking, oh my gosh,
dave is going to be so upsetthat I'm dead.
And then I remember the car justjust coming towards me and I
(02:09):
actually have a video of theaccident because it was right in
front of an apartment apartmentcomplex that had cameras.
I kind of jumped a little bitout of the way, but it still.
It still hit me straight on andI went flying.
This I don't remember Watchingthe video.
I landed on my butt and but myhead went back and I didn't.
(02:34):
I don't remember any of this,so I thought I had been blacked
out for a while.
But looking at the video itlooks like I sat up rather
quickly and then when I did situp, I I could not believe how
many people were suddenly there.
(02:54):
Like when I was running itdidn't seem like there was
anybody around and as soon as Igot hit there were just people
coming out of the woodwork and Iremember them making me lie
down and holding there was asomebody that was holding my
head, trying to keep it in place.
So the car when it hit me,after it hit me, flipped onto
(03:17):
its side and slid and thenstopped.
And thank goodness when I washit, you know it didn't like
drag me under, because Idefinitely would not be here
right now if it had dragged meunder.
It just slid on its side.
I don't know I'm bad with likefeet and stuff, but probably 10
feet, something like that 10, 15feet.
(03:38):
And because of it being on itsside like this, I could see the
gas or some fluid leaking out ofthe car and I remember telling
all the people taking care of mecan we like move back away from
this car?
And there was.
My Garmin had flown off me andmy phone went flying, but there
(04:02):
was a guy there who took myphone and asked me if he could
call somebody.
I gave him some gibberish phonenumber that had nothing to do
with my husband's phone number.
I still don't know where Ipulled that number out of, but
it wasn't Dave and they werealso asking me like what year it
was, which I did not know.
(04:22):
Things like that.
I don't remember how he got tobecause my face wouldn't work.
My face was so banged up itwouldn't work for them to unlock
my phone.
I think in my ice emergencything that you have on your
phone, I actually did fill outall the information and so I
think that's how they found himand called him.
(04:45):
Some of the people aroundthought that I had been ejected
from one of the cars, but thensomeone had actually seen the
accident happen and they're likeno, she was on the sidewalk
when it happened.
I think what made the car flipwas it wasn't even like a
driveway I was hit in, it wasjust like full on sidewalk and I
think they hit the curb andthen hit me and then flipped.
(05:05):
Then I remember the police werethere, but the by then the
ambulance had gotten there aswell and, you know, loaded me up
in the back of the ambulance.
They had to cut everything offof me, and so I also remember
being very annoyed that I wasonly able to wear this shirt
once, and now it was going to becut.
(05:27):
I would never be able to wearit again.
They were asking me again youknow what year it was?
Well, here's the thing, becauseI already knew when they asked
me before and I got it wrong.
And then they kept kind ofprompting I knew the answer to
that question, prompting I knewthe answer to that question, and
then they asked me again at thehospital what you know, what
(05:53):
year it was.
And so in my thinking, I'm likeyou know, there should be
different questions as you gothrough the system, right, like
so, if you're a first responderin an ambulance, whatever, this
is your, this is a question youcan ask to assess, you know
what's going on, and then, onceyou get to the hospital, ask a
different question, because Ihave no idea if I would have
(06:13):
known what year it was by thetime I got to the hospital or
not.
I just had already known theanswer because I was told what
the answer was back at the scene.
So anyway, just a little sidenote.
If you happen to be in themedical profession, that might
be something interesting tostudy or look at.
So I just remember seeing outthe window driving really fast
(06:37):
and getting me to the hospital.
Once I got there, it was just amad rush of a full body scan and
CTs and you know all this, allthis stuff.
So finally I was in myemergency room bed and Dave
actually had gotten therealready.
(06:57):
He had gotten the phone callthat I was in a car accident and
, because of of how it wasworded, I didn't have a car at
that time, but mydaughter-in-law and son were
living with us, and so hethought maybe it was my
daughter-in-law and my grandson.
You know he's wondering wherethey are in all of this.
And then, but finally helearned that I was actually hit
(07:20):
by a car as a pedestrian, butfor some reason he was out there
for a long time.
They finally he finally asked,and then they let him come back
in the emergency room and I hada broken nose, there was a huge
bruise on my one hip, and then Ialso got an air embolism around
(07:41):
my heart, an air embolismaround my heart, and so I had to
be on oxygen, for I think itwas.
I think it must have been 24hours.
I was on oxygen for a long timeand it was so annoying because
it was.
I hate the feeling of thatlittle tiny tube inside your
nose.
It feels like it's like goingright up to your brain.
The air was just blowing intomy ears.
(08:03):
At the same time, the pain nursecame in and what I thought she
asked me was how long it hadbeen since I had taken anything
like Oxycontin.
What I think she actually askedme was did I ever have a
problem with it, like gotaddicted to it?
And my answer was, oh, not for20 years.
(08:23):
So you know they wouldn't giveme it for the rest of the time
and I couldn't.
They didn't give me aprescription or anything.
And then, looking back on whatI thought she said versus what I
think she actually said, itexplains why I was only getting
like Tylenol.
So hopefully in my recordsomewhere there isn't like this
(08:45):
declaration that I ever had aproblem with Oxycontin.
Actually, I have the oppositeproblem I don't like taking it,
and so usually when I wasprescribed it I barely took any.
So anyway, I was in theemergency room till late that
night and then they took me intoa regular room and it was such
(09:09):
a nice room.
So where they, where I had gone, was ECMC, which is the county
hospital, and you know if you'rein Buffalo you know it doesn't
have a great reputation, butthis room was great.
It had it was a private room.
It had a desk person that hadbeen holding my head when I got
(09:49):
hit by the car so she had seenthe accident from the window.
She lived in the apartments atwhere this had happened and she
was asking if she could come andtalk to me and come see me, and
it was just so cool to be ableto meet someone that was
involved in helping me.
When I first went down I was sograteful.
(10:12):
It was great to be able tothank her properly and just talk
to her, and that was reallycool.
I thought that was great.
The other thing that I thoughtwas nice two things actually
they now have in the hospitaland this might be TMI, but they
have these little vacuum thingsinstead of putting a catheter in
(10:32):
.
Catheters are the bane of myexistence.
I had to have one with each ofmy kids because I had C-sections
for all five of them and myurethra is apparently short.
So when I have a catheter itjust feels like I have to go to
the bathroom all the time.
It's awful, but these littlevacuum things just stay there
(10:54):
and you can just go to thebathroom and it just sucks it
all away.
It's great If you if you everhospitalized and you have that
option take the option, becauseit's so much more comfortable
and I didn't have any accidentswith it.
It was super cool.
So hopefully, if you take myadvice, you don't either.
But the other thing that wasreally cool was, instead of
(11:16):
being attached to a big polethat has all of your vitals to
it, it it was just this compactlittle the size of like a phone
that had everything plugged intoit.
So instead of having to sleeplike on my back, which I never
do, I was able to sleep on myside because of this, this
(11:37):
little pack that had all thevitals going on on that.
So that was another thing thatI thought was really really cool
.
So when Dave came to visit me,he was.
I wanted to see if my garmentwas had been broken, because it
had flown off and it was stillrunning.
Six hours later it was stillrunning.
(12:00):
So it was saying that it tookme six hours to do three miles.
So, needless to say, Idiscarded that workout.
What I?
What was crazy to me is it flewoff of my wrist when I got hit
but didn't like record.
You know how it has thatemergency thing, like I have
clapped my hands and it'll startthe emergency countdown where,
(12:21):
if you don't, if you don't tellit to stop, it's going to make
those emergency phone calls justclapping my hands.
I actually do get hit by a carand the thing runs for six more
hours and doesn't say that I hadgotten into this accident.
You know there was no abruptstop.
So anyway, that was crazy.
So I was in the hospital forthree days.
(12:43):
It could have been two, but Ifailed the walking test where I
wasn't going to fall over, so Ihad to stay in there overnight
for another day.
The recovery from that was, youknow, I couldn't run for three
weeks.
My hip was bruised, my nosefelt awful.
I could not get all the bloodout of my nose.
(13:05):
For days.
Face was just just black andblue under my eyes.
I mean, everything was just amess.
I was wearing masks and hadlots of makeup and the parts
that could show just for atleast two weeks.
It was just crazy.
And then when I started runningagain, you know I had to go
(13:29):
very, very slow, I had to bevery careful.
I went to the chiropractor, Iwant to say for eight months,
because when I landed I reallyshoved a lot of things out of
place and now my issues are alot of hip issues, piriformis
(13:50):
issues, a groin issue which Inever had felt my groin before
ever, and all these things Ithink are because of how I
landed on my, the way I landedon my back and butt area, on my,
the way I landed on my back andbutt area.
So you know, you can do all theright things run on the
(14:13):
sidewalk, you know, not crossthe street unless it's out of
light, all the safety things,and still things can happen that
just can come out of the clearblue sky.
I think the fact that I'm arunner saved me, you know,
allowed me to have the reflexesand the fitness to jump enough
out of the way that it wasn'tfatal.
But well, on the other hand,you know I was out for a run.
(14:35):
So being a runner did alsocontribute to being in the
accident.
Being in the accident, of courseyou know, after even it was
about a year, after almost ayear, I still could not cross
(14:57):
streets without panicking.
I could not be in a car,especially on the thruway,
without thinking that a car wasgoing to just come ramming into
the car.
It was pretty severe PTSD andit just ended up getting worse
and worse.
I could run, but it wasterrifying just crossing streets
and so I ended up having to seea counselor.
(15:21):
For about that was probablyeight months that I saw the
counselor and we worked ontrying to visualize that people
are trying to be safe, trying toget me to just think about
other things, be distracted.
You know we tried a bunch ofstuff and I did start feeling
better about being in the car.
(15:42):
I still will have some of thatwhen we're in a car, especially
on the thruway.
I do not like the three lanesreally get to me, especially if
we're on a outside lane andwe're going to move into the
middle lane.
I get very panicked that thepeople in the opposite outer
lane are going to also come overat the same time.
(16:03):
I don't know that that's evergoing to go away, but through
ways are very, very tough for me.
Running, not so much running.
I really I'm okay with that.
Now I can cross the street andnot fear that you know that a
car is just going to come out ofnowhere.
I am starting marathon training.
(16:24):
I'm working on just the groinstuff and the hip stuff.
One thing that's interesting isI found out that when I was
running the buildup not theactual training, but the buildup
to it I was getting severegroin pain and hip pain where I
couldn't run and I'd have totake multiple rest days, and it
(16:45):
was really discouraging.
Just a couple weeks ago, Idecided not to take my phone on
a run with me, with my husband.
It was just going to be threemiles.
It was 530 in the morning, soyou know who's going to text me
then.
So we went for the run and Ididn't feel any pain.
It was, it was nice, I feltnothing.
And then I was walking over tomy son's house and I use a flip
(17:09):
belt that I can store my phonein, and as I'm walking I'm
starting to get really bad groinpain again and I'm like that's
so weird that I would have itnow when I'm just walking
instead of running.
And so I took the belt off andthe pain started being
(17:32):
alleviated so now.
So I was like I'm going to notrun with that belt and see if
that's causing this pain, and soI didn't run with it then, and
I really believe that I hadgotten a new phone.
It's it's bigger than my otherone and heavier, and I really
(17:54):
think it is when I wear thatbelt and have the phone on my
back that there must be part ofit that's pushing on some kind
of nerve, bundle or muscle orsomething that is referring this
pain into my groin, becausewhen I don't run, when I run
(18:15):
without that, I'm fine.
So now I have to figure out,you know what.
Am I going to run with alightweight vest?
Am I going to get an armbandfor my phone?
Am I going to do a handheldwater bottle, which I absolutely
hate, hate, hate, hate.
So but it's just interesting,because I was all ready to go to
(18:37):
the session for PT to figureout what, you know, what I could
do for this pain, and if I hadcontinued to wear the belt, I
don't know that the exercisesand the things that they would
have me do would actually havemade a difference.
So it's, it's annoying, you knowthat, that these things happen
(19:00):
that are out of your control,that just affect your life and
affect what you do.
You know wearing I talked aboutwearing a lightweight vest.
I was trying to wear ahydration vest and the pressure
on my back, in between myshoulder blades, just since the
accident I just really I can'tdo that or I have to have much
(19:23):
less water in the bladder than Iwould like.
These setbacks and these thingsthat happen can really get you
discouraged.
But you know I stuck with thePTSD stuff and going to the
chiropractor.
I got through the marathon inNovember.
It was, you know, my slowest,but I got through it.
Rather than quit and let thattake over my life, I absolutely
(19:47):
did want to get back to therunning.
Whatever happens, if running isstill a possibility, I would
really encourage you to do whatyou need to do to get back.
You know, use your doctors, usephysical therapists, use
counselors and make sure thatyou do everything that you can
(20:09):
to get back.
It might not be the same, itmight look a little different
than it did before an illness oran accident or some other
setback in your life that youmay have.
But if running is something thatyou really, really, really have
a passion for, then seek outthe avenues in order to keep
(20:31):
that in your life, because onceyou're on the other side, you're
going to be very, very happythat you did that, and the
sooner you get those people onyour side that can help you get
to that point, the better youknow you don't want to be in the
cycle where you just stoprunning and then it just gets so
(20:52):
hard to start up again.
Then you get discouraged becauseyou have so much more to go
before you reach fitness again.
Don't compare yourself to howyou were pre-accident.
I'm always still hopeful that Iwill be able to PR a marathon.
If that doesn't happen, thenit's also okay, because I'm
(21:13):
still running marathons and I'mstill here.
If you look at the video, youcan see that if I was over
another few inches I probablywould not be here and I
certainly would not be here inthe same capacity as I was
pre-accident.
Just an encouragement to keepon keeping on and keep doing the
(21:34):
things that you need to getback to running.
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