And I'm falllllllllllllllllling, down a hill, don't know when I'll get up again!!!:)

So not to freak anyone out with this post, but as you can see I am clearly alive!! Okay now with that being said it's time to recap the GREATEST RUN I'VE EVER HAD!!!!:) Sunday morning, 10am, beautiful sunny but a little chilly Sunday morning!! I have a lunch date with the Mark's and Farley's over at the Mark's at 12:30, so I wanted to get my long run and get back in time to shower!!!! Now before I went for a run I had this thought wouldn't it be ironic if I went for this run and didn't make it back in time for lunch!! I mean it's only my H.O.D. and Head of Middle/Elementary School, and friends lunch plans!! Well I leave my house at 10, thinking I'll be out for an hour and a half, come back, shower up, then head out to the Farley's to pick them up and all walk to the Mark's!! Simple enough right?!?! Obviously if this made the blog, not simple enough!!:) Today's run involved heading East on Tehri Rd. (Mussoorie's main road) and going as far as the Himalayan Weavers shop!! Which is about 3.5 miles away with a vertical climb of 500ft or so!! Not a piece of cake by any means!! And since it's Sunday and my longest run of the week I wanted to make half of it through the hills and trails to keep it easy on the joints, since most of the time they are either walking up or down hill!!!:) Well I head out East Tehri Rd. and get as far as the sharp turn with the beautiful overlook, which is about .25 miles away from the 5k Tea Shop!! At this sharp turn there is a path that leads up to the ridges overlooking Tehri Rd. and Southeast Mussoorie!! Been on this path at least 5-6 times, so it's not like I'm running in new territory!! However, to this point I still haven't found the one path that leads me up to the top of the ridges easily!! It's always been goat path after goat path!! I start my climb up the mini hill and get to level ground before it makes the first climb to the first part of the ridge!! Well this is where it got a little fun!!!:) So I'm running and I come to this very narrow goat path that is about a shoe's width and nothing more!! Now this is nothing new, deal with these small paths all the time!! I see some rocks on the path that look solid and can easily be stepped on and then move on to the next part!! Easier than it turns out!! The first rock I step on BAM!!! Down that rock goes, down goes my right leg, and down goes my right side of my body!! Now without hesitation I try and grab for a branch or something to bring me back on to the path and balanced!! Of course there's nothing around and here I go!!! DOWN....DOWN....DOWN!! My right foot goes first, followed by my left foot and now I'm full out falling down the hill!! In the first 5 feet I begin to start falling head over heel, however right before I begin that fall I look up and right as I look up I see this freakin huge branch, at least 3ft. in circumference, coming right at me!! Well sure enough I was on the war path and KABAM!!! Hit the branch with my chest (a couple more inches up and it would have hit my chin and probably knocked me out) and KERPLAMMY get flung straight back against the ground landing on my back!! I was very lucky to still be conscious at this point, so my first reaction was to STOP FALLING!! I dig my feet into the ground, grab anything I can with my hands and start to slow down a little!! And of course if nothing worse could happen now I see this tree coming right at the "groin" area!! I'm like oh for the love of all that is cheesey I need to stop RIGHT NOW!! I dig into the ground even harder now, and sure enough I come to a stop a couple feet before this tree made my voice a falsetto!!! I'm about 15 feet from where I was running on the path at this point!! I look up and just ask out loud "what the HECK was THAT all about?!?!" Any of you know "Black Sheep" you know that EXACT scene!!:) I gather my thoughts again and do the standard body analysis!! Wiggle my toes and fingers, bend the elbows and knees, and check for any major cuts!! Only a few scratches on the legs, a freakin thorn bush dug into my right shin (thanks for the added bonus right there landing!!), my back is all covered in dirt, and my backside of my left forearm is all dirty!! But other than those scratches and dirty spots I was good!! At this point now I have two possible extreme emotions to be feeling: crying or laughing!! Sure enough I just BURST out laughing for the next 2 minutes!! Couldn't believe what had just happened!! Well while I was laughing I got up and thought, okay I can either turn around and run on the road OR keep going to the top of the ridge and do my ridges run!! Just like any dedicated runner would do who didn't injure themselves after a fall, stuck with the original plan!!! I basically went STRAIGHT up the hillside and reached the first ridge in about 3 minutes!!:) After reaching the top, the "main" path was not far ahead and sure enough I was back on the right track and running at about 7,500ft. with a view that could see for miles!!! I run all the way to Himalayan Weavers via the trails, and then get back on the road again to finish the loop on some more solid and cement type ground!! I get home around 11:30 (still finished the run around 1hr. 30 minutes) and head straight to the Weibe's and tell them my story!! For the first time I roll up my left arm sleeve and of course my complete forearm was scratched up and red from the ground burn!!:) Cookie was all nervous when she heard my story, but of course Dave was all for it and loved it!! Any time I can impress him makes my day!!:) After my visit to the Weibe's I now do a body overview underneath the clothes and yeah, a LOT more scratches then meets the eye!! My back right of my back is completely scratched up, I feel some scratches on my right butt cheek, and of course my chest which probably got the worst of the blows was SCRATCHLESS!! NOTHING!! A couple pieces of dirt and that was it!! Couldn't believe it!! After burning in the shower for a painful 10 minutes, I got out and started replaying the fall in my head and came to this conclusion!! If not for the branch that I hit chest on, there was nothing else that would have stopped me from falling head over heels another 50ft. down the hill and onto the lovely cement!! I mean it was a straight shot down with only some minor small trees to grab!! So I figured that branch pretty much saved me from any major damage that could have occurred, AND I thank my push-ups and chest exercises!! Cause if it wasn't for the muscle there I could have easily bruised some ribs or even worse, the heart!! THANK YOU EXERCISE!!!! Can't wait for this Sunday's trail run and see what fall I can survive this time!!;) HAPPY SMILING AND HAPPY RUNNING EVERYONE!! Don't let obstacles run your life!! RUN THROUGH THEM!! Or SLIP down them!!!!!;)