January 2021 Monthly Running Challenge

skippygirlsmom wrote: »

Well all I'm out for a while. Some of you that I'm friends with on other social media know what happened yesterday, but for those that don't here's my long story.

TLDR: broke my ankle

Skip and I have always wanted to hike the Walls of Jericho. We decided to do it yesterday. It didn’t turn out exactly the way we wanted about mile 3.3ish I slipped and fell, I started to roll down towards a drop off to the creek/river. I immediately heard my ankle crack luckily I was able to grab the 2 branches before falling off (one of the pictures in the spoiler you'll see the branches I was able to hit to stop before falling off. By falling off I mean dropping 15 to 20 feet down into the ravine. When I actually stopped moving my feet where hanging off the edge.

It was so weird, it was muddy and I was standing no problem lifted one foot to step up about 4" and next thing I know my other foot slipped out under me in the mud. I reach for a tree but missed it and from there I was head over butt flipping. All I could hear was Skip screaming. When I stopped I immediately told her I was okay but my ankle was broken, she wanted to come down to me but I told no to stay there so she didn't slip off. I pulled down my sock to make sure no bones were coming through and tried to get my wits about myself. Obviously I was sick to my stomach and needed a minute to think.

I was lucky the trail was busy and so many people stopped. I was able to push myself almost all the way back up to the trail using my hands and pushing on my good foot. Then a guy named Dave who came running when they heard Skip screaming pulled me the rest of the way. When we realized there was no way I could walk out his wife and their twin 8 year olds started the 3 mile run back to the trailhead to get help since we had no cell service. The climb out is I think about 1,000 feet of elevation at least and most of the trail is single lane. David sat with Skip and I keeping us company and taking care of us for about 3.5 to 4 hours. I’m so sorry I didn’t get his full name or contact info. There’s no way I can thank them enough. People coming to us gave us an idea of where she was on the trail. A nurse, Beth, from Hartselle stopped and wrapped my ankle and countless people whose names l will never know stopped, offering food, drinks, jackets and ibuprofen.

Medevac arrived along with the rescue squads from Scottsboro Jackson County, Hytop and Highlands along with the sheriff department from Jackson County. They teamed up with Adam who was from Tennessee and hiking with his family to carry me to a clearing where a Kubota could take me to an ambulance. I decided on the trail not to take the helicopter out though I appreciated them getting there so fast, after Dave's wife called 911 there were there in like 10 minutes. FYI most insurance companies either don't cover or only cover 20% of a helicopter evac, which costs around $30,000 according to the medic. Since I wasn't bleeding and my injury wasn't life threatening there was no reason to fly. All the rescues were there 10 minutes later. They splinted my ankle and we tried for me to walk the rocky trail out to clearing. They didn't feel safe using the board they had to carry me because the trail was no narrow and the drop, they were afraid if the board tilted I would fall over and off. I held on to one EMT putting my weight on his back while another held my waist and helped to lift me as much as we could. After about 20 yards or so going up and down I was dizzy and we decided that wasn't going to work. Right then another squad came in with a basket type stretcher like they air lift with. The put me in there tight and I made them promise to let go of me if we started to go down the side, I didn't want anyone falling with me. By this time we had sent Skip off with Adam's wife and family and Dave to hike back out to the trailhead.

We got to a Kubota near the clearing and they transferred me to it. Note the selfie of just some of the people who helped carry me out. That ride was crazy, over rocks, like 90 degree drops into the river and back out the other side, it was crazy (and kinda ouchie) but after about 30 minutes I was back at the trailhead where there were a bunch of people waiting for me along with police, more rescue people and people we met on the trail. Once at the trailhead I decided to wait for Skip to drive me to hospital. She was hiking out with Adam’s wife Kimsby and their boys and Dave. The EMT who would ride with me to the hospital in the ambulance said they were great with taking me but I thought it was a waste of their resources. While we were down there we gave one girl my friend Lynda's phone number and they called her to tell he what happened. I thought if I went by ambulance they could drive up and one take my car home so Skip didn't have to drive. When I talked to her (she was now with another friend of mine) they were calling all the area hospitals trying to find me. Skip took me to the hospital, of course couldn't come in, so she dropped me off and went home took a shower and took care of the dogs and went to Lynda's to wait for me. They feed her dinner and when I called (like 2.5 hours later) they came to get me.

So it's definitely broken, the doctor said the fibula on the right side and that I pulled apart the joint of the ankle on the left. Tomorrow I'll call my orthopedic doctor who operated on my foot in 2019 and see what he says. Of course it's my right foot so I can't drive. The pain isn't awful, more uncomfortable because the splint is so heavy. I have to be honest I truly thought I was going off the cliff so I'm thanking my lucky stars it's only a broken ankle and lots of cuts and bruises. My one knee is beat up and I have cuts all over including one on my forehead and my one arm is just black and blue all the way up and down and swollen in spots.

Of course I'm so upset I was so happy to have to running back to longer runs and more miles. I have a bunch of races set up for early this year including a mileage challenge that starts tomorrow and a the monthly Half Marathon challenge. The RD told me they will count my knee scooter miles ha ha. My friend dropped a knee scooter off this morning which is much easier than crutches.

Things that were funny great about this. I instinctively turned off my watch after I stopped falling WTH is with that? ha ha. Beth, the nurse, was on the way back from the "wall" and sent me some pictures since I never got there. I don't think I can mentally ever go there again, at least not for a long time. It wasn't a hard trail, I've run on so much harder just bad luck with some slippery mud.

I'm just so thankful I didn't go off the cliff, what would have definitely left a mark.

Well if you read this far here's some pictures.

Part of the crew that helped me



the branches that stopped me



other pictures