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| my cross country co-coach Kris |
On the last day of cross country practice, the team runs to Costco for a treat. We arrive with 30 plus athletes and so many kids at one time is always a shock. We certainly don't want to be those coaches that show up with a bunch of unruly middle schoolers, so we stress good behavior... a lot. We impress staff, as well as Costco shoppers!
The trip back to the school is not easy, because the kids are trying to juggle their pop, or ice cream things, and can't really run till they are done. My co coach (the best guy ever,) never gets anything, but I always get a coffee frappe; frozen flavored coffee drink. It's our last practice anyway, so we do a kind of run/walk shuffle thing most of the way back.
We have to cross an empty lot between two streets to get there, and one street is about 5 feet above the other. On the way, the kids have to go up a trail, and on the return trip, they run down the path.
Remember, I have the frappe in hand on my cool trike, and I reach the path I have to ride down. Mind you, I have coached cross country at KMS for many years, and we have taken the same route a bazillion times. This time, I stopped at the top of the path, and considered putting the drink in my drink holder. Imagine that! But, the holder sits at an angle and I didn't want to take the chance of the frappe bouncing out, on the trip down. I figured I could hold the cup, while gripping the handle bar to steer.
Consequently, down is exactly where I went, coffee flying! Almost immediately my tire turned 45 degrees, and the trike flipped to its side. It felt like slow motion, but eventually I landed hard on my left shoulder. An x ray revealed I had separated it, but my movement or strength in certain areas did not point to rotater cuff problems. But I was still in pain several months later so I had an MRI and finally, surgery.
That's my brain injury, to not really think things thru before execution... I can use that excuse, I earned it!
Not so fast - forward to spring track. For the first 2 weeks, my arm was still in a sling (bike fall in cross country.) We have about 160 kids. 160, 7th and 8th grade boys and girls (can you feel my fear?) They were is lines of 6-8, spread across the football field the long way, and I had to get to the coach running the drills, on the far side. As I hobbling out in front of the kids I told them not to run me over or knock me down. But when I was almost to my destination, I turned away from the kids just as the drill changed to backwards running.
A good sized 8th grade boy, running backward at full speed, ran directly into me, and because I had just tuned, his back hit my back. Needless to say, I went down (again) and I went down hard. I'm lucky I was on a grass football field, because I did absolutely nothing to slow my fall. One arm was tucked safely covering my middle, and the other arm, well, it's on my affected side and it's reactions are simply slow, and awkward.
So, no arms flew up to assist, and I caught the ground with the bridge of my nose, directly. Well, once you've had a head injury, the likelihood of a blow to the head causing more damage, is always present. I was stunned, my glasses dug into my face in various places, my face was bleeding, but I hadn't lost consciousness, so I figured I was OK. The other coaches gathered around me, while one coach herded the kids away from me.
Coach Elliot escorted me to the bathroom in the school to clean up, and I drove myself (after we assessed the situation) to a medical facility for gluing, as opposed to stitching.
I didn't make it back to practice, but I did the next day, sporting purple eyes and a few small facial lacerations. The bruises have all faded but now I'm wondering how many Worker's Comp claims I'm allowed before KMS asks me to go get hurt on my own.
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