today was a very long day. here it is, step-by-step.
i got up early to meet kris, julie l, julie b, and sara to carpool out to castlewood to start our long run before it got too hot. i volunteered to drive us out there. we get there and start off on our run. the julies and kris were running longer, so it was just sara and i. we got near the turn around point and i decided to take an energy gel. a few minutes later i realized when i reached in my little pouch on my water bottle belt to get out the gel that i lost my car key! sara and i looked for over 20 min before deciding that we just had to call it quits and run back (we still had a good 7 or 8 miles left to get back). so we get back and explain the situation to everyone. julie b had triple a so we called them to come out and at least unlock the doors. i don't have a spare key to my car because the spare got lost about 8 months ago and it is really expensive to get a honda key replaced. so i'm thinking i'm pretty much screwed. adam and his dad skip volunteer to drive me back out to the turn-around spot to look for the key.
so everyone else hitches a ride back with someone else and adam and skip and i head out to the trailhead that we turned around at. we get out there and start retracing my steps. about a quarter of a mile down the way we run into a couple who ask us if we lost a car key (it was obvious we were looking for something). they had just found it! what luck, or so i thought. we thank them profusely and climb back into the car.
we head back down the narrow state park roads back to pick up my car. then, before we could hardly react, a large black truck comes barreling around a tight turn, adam swerves all the way off the road, but the truck seems to not even see us and hits us practically head on. the next thing i know i'm tring to fight the airbag and crawl out of adam's car. a very nice lady in van who heard the accident immediately called 911 and two cyclists that were down the road came to assist. the three of us headed to the hospital in the ambulance while the tow trucks worked on cleaning up the mess. the young kid in the truck that hit us seemed unharmed and much to my dismay, not particularly remorseful. after getting checked out in the ER, skip, adam's dad came away with a few stitches in his shin and a lot of bumps and bruises. adam's ankle is about three times the size it normally is, but luckily wasn't broken. he is on crutches for now and is pretty bruised on his left side. he really took the brunt of the hit. i have a pretty nasty bruise on my left knee from hitting the dash and on both knees i have what feels like really really bad rug burn from the air bag. i have the same burn under my chin and i bit my lip. thank goodness for those airbags or we'd probably be dead. my neck and shoulders are stiff and it is hard to walk around right now, mostly due to my left knee. let's just say i probably won't be running for a few days.
looking back and trying to remember those moments just before the crash leads me to believe this theory in how it happened: as the truck came around the turn, adam reacted and swerved the car almost completely off the side of the road, as the truck was in the left lane. there was seemingly no reaction from the truck, not slamming on the breaks, not swerving. i would bet the kid was on his cell phone not paying attention. had we not been there, he may have still ended up in a wreck, just with the trees instead of us. i can only hope that he learned his lesson, though it seems he may not have.
now i'm left with two bum knees, a scratched chin, a sore left arm (they had to give me a tetanus shot), and all because i lost my key in the woods. i think i'm going to buy one of those magnetic things you can stick your key in and "hide" it under the bumper.
running was really starting to go well. i hope that this doesn't set me too far back.
run: 15 miles
time: 2 hours, 2 minutes
shoes: adidas adistar cushion (113.5)
week-to-date: 46
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