Bitten

Just the other day I was cruising the web and took a look at Sarah Jessica Parker's line of affordable clothing called "Bitten." I love the look and they carry it at Steve and Barry's at Franklin Mills. Since losing weight I've been having trouble finding pants that fit and I figure I'll give hers a try. But that's not what this entry is about.

Saturday I went out for a relatively short run with some striders. 25 minutes into it that damn sticker tried to come back. I was determined to beat it and really concentrated on my breathing to keep it at bay. I did manage to hold it off, got the striders in, and headed home. Incidentally, Tom thinks I may be running too hard given the recent spate of illness and I should take it a little easy. I'll give it a try. So I headed home from the track satisfied I had gotten the run in.

I got to our street and saw my neighbor walking his rather sizable German Shepherd. I stopped to say hi since this neighbor is pretty chatty and stuck out my hand for the dog to sniff it. He immediately snapped at my hand (I pulled it away in time) and began lunging and snapping at me. As I turned to get away from him he got my leg in 2 places. I sized him up and figured he weighed about as much as I do and decided to get the hell out of there while the owner tried to get him under control.

I was totally freaked out. I always imagined if I found myself in this type of situation I would channel my inner Matrix and do some sort of flying kick at the dog's head and that would be that. Instead, I found myself shaking and nauseated in my kitchen as Tom ran frantically to get some stuff to clean the cuts and both kids swarmed me with that look on their face. I put my game face on but seeing Tom's face made me worry all the more. I knew it hurt badly and was dreading taking a look at it.

The dog got me pretty bad on my hamstring. It was a puncture but not terribly deep. There was just enough blood to send me woozy but with Grace and Luke in and out I tried to keep the freak out under control. We paged the doctor who said, believe it or not, if it was a cat bite I'd be on immediate antibiotics but that a dog's mouth isn't as bad as people would think. I do need to check my tetanus records tomorrow and see if it's been 5 years. If it has been that means a big old cavity drilled and a tetanus shot in one day. Now that's my idea of some presidential fun.

We kept ice on it all day but all I kept thinking was this better not derail my Broad Street training. I've come way too far and worked way too hard for something like this to happen. It was tender all day and a rough night of sleep. I sleep on the injured side. I know I kept Tom up all night and felt bad tossing and turning trying to get comfortable.

This morning I was optimistic. It didn't look terrible and no real sign of bruising. Tom headed out for a run and I took the kids food shopping. I had decided I would try a run on the treadmill in the afternoon and see how it felt. But mid-way through Genuardis it began to ache. When I got in the car it really hurt to sit. When I got home I saw the bruise beginning to form around the bite. It's a bit smaller than the size of my fist. I was bummed.

I trotted around the house to see how running felt and decided, given the bouncing and wincing it caused, to defer the run and take a nap instead. Tom and I talked about it and it's not a "running injury"--in other words, running would not make it worst but just uncomfortable. Today it wasn't meant to be and I hate that feeling. I'm optimistic I'll be back running this week but I learned a valuable lesson that I know many a runner has learned the hard way. Stay the hell away from dogs.