Twice. Both on the same high school XC course. First time was on a large downhill, clipped a rock and went down face first. This downhill followed a huge uphill, and my legs were toast at that point. 2nd time was actually at the top of that uphill. Pouring rain and spikes weren't allowed. Made the mistake of looking over at my coach to get my place, since it was our class meet, and immediately slipped and went down.
Here are 3 worth mentioning:
Was crossing the railroad tracks while the diesel was in the station. Although I had down it 100 times, this time my toe caught the rail and I went down. Got really scared, even though the train was minutes fro leaving.
This past winter, hit a patch of snow-covered ice and before I knew it, was on the ground. Two weeks later, as I waved to a fellow runner I went down again, he ran over and helped me. He ribbed me about it for weeks.
Flagpole wrote:
I fell once because the loop of the laces for one of my shoes was big enough to catch the tip of my other shoe...fell in the middle of the street right in front of two teenaged girls who thought it was hilarious. Since then I've always made sure to make those loops smaller (either knotting them up more or making the other end longer).
The way to go is to shove the loops of your tied shoelaces back down underneath the part of your laces that keeps your shoes tight on your feet. They will NEVER come untied, and you definitely won't trip over them.
Running with my dog, leash and dog on my right, a squirrel ran past us diagonally right to left and my dog bolted across me and then turned left again to head behind me after the squirrel. Needless to say I want flying over the leash. Crowded park path too so high embarrassment levels.
I thought this thread said "Describe how many times you've fallen ASLEEP while running" at first.
one bad one
Late at night, didn't see the road dip on the left shoulder. Left ankle inverted causing major sprain.
I never saw it coming. Fell head first and could barely jog back home. That ankle sprain later caused some knee issues. I wasn't the same again until 4 months later. That was 2010.
Be careful running in the dark or on uneven surfaces!
My first fall was so memorable even though it was 27 years ago because it was the day I was doing a 6 mile run for the first time.
I was with one person, we were running on the sidewalk and came upon a fire hydrant. I ran on one side, she ran on the other. I didn't see a small piece of the hydrant that stuck out and i bashed my quad into it and fell hard. That hurt so bad that it was the first time i had any sympathy for football players who were on the sidelines for a bruised quad. i could barely walk for a couple of days and I still have a dent in my quad to this day.
Yes, I have fallen more than once in the past. Once I slipped on black ice and went down on my butt, but it was dark out and nobody was around. More recently, I tripped over a root on a dirt path in the daylight hours and went down hard in front of a large crowd of people. A few of them rushed over to help me up, but I quickly recovered and bolted out of there before they got to me. I managed to finish my run that day complete with bloodied palms and knees. I must have looked a sight. The pain wasn't really noticeable until I got home. I was picking debris out of the wound for most of the afternoon.
Not one of my most glorious moments, but definitely a memorable one.
Strangely, the first think i do when i fall is turn off my watch. The second, is to look around to see who saw it.
The last time I fell I was trying to jump over a large whole in the ground while running downhill. The side I leaped from sort of crumbled and my jump was faltered so I didn't make it all the way and landed on the other side with my torso hitting the crumbly other side of the hole. I arose quick and kept running for it was a tempo run.
Surprisingly few, given how long I've been running (1969), but 4 times I've hit ice, fallen & broken bones (each hand, sternum, humerus). I don't mind snow but I HATE ice.
At least twenty five times. Mostly on trails, tripping on exposed roots/rocks. Sprained my ankles a couple of times. Fell during a hurdles race and a x-country race in high school. Two summers ago, for some reason I tripped and fell five times, four on pavement with no real explanation (other than getting old-50s) than just clumsiness and fatigue. Really injured my shoulder on one fall.
Two time of note:
I used to run on a golf course at night. Hadn't realized that I unintentionally always did these runs on moonlit nights. Went out one evening without a moon and after cresting an incline, I misstepped and tumbled down a "hill." Laughed all the way and all the way through the rest of the run.
#2. While running easy 300 repeats on a track, my leg gave out and I went sprawling. Wouldn't have been so bad, if there hadn't been a couple of world-class runners watching at the time.
jordan mcdougal took an nice tumble on bear mt this year:
I'm surprised that there has only been one reply saying to many to count. I once fell about 2 dozen times in a single race - the Crow Pass Crossing, when it was slick mud along with the usual bad visibility of the trail under overgrown vegetation, slippery wet rocks, etc. and I was wearing road shoes. I also run a lot of rough trails on off trail in the mountains, and live where there is often ice on surfaces in the winter.
twice. same trail, same rock about 150m into the run. both times on a super-easy training run very early in the a.m. the day after a really hard workout, doing the Kenyan shuffle the first couple miles to loosen up and get the blood flowing. clipped the rock with my right foot and tumbled down a short downhill, lucky i was going so slow or else could've been bad. i will never trip on that little b*tch-azz rock again dammit!
Since I run trails a fair amount I have had my share of falls due to roots. Not often but 3-4 times a year. I've also fallen about 4 or 5 times in the last 5 years on pavement. I sometimes get a lazy right foot and have caught cracks on a road or sidwalk. And it is always my right toe that's the culprit.
I don't think I've ever fallen on a run, and I do a fair amount of trail running, with more than three decades of running behind me. Strange to read people talking about 20 or more falls...
I have noticed that I'm pretty focused on where I plant my feet on the trails. Was doing some trail running along the Columbia River Gorge last weekend and missed trail markers at a couple of turns...probably because I was eyeing the ground too intensely.
I must have fallen at least ten times. They all fall into one of two categories.
1) my left leg is a bit weaker/slower than my right (always has been). So if I tie up, the left leg ties up worse. In a few races, I've tripped over it.
2) running on the towpath in DC, especially during times of low visibility, it's not too difficult to trip over a protruding rock or rut. Especially if you shuffle like I do.
22 times. I counted them up in church once. I've slipped on ice, slipped in mud, caught a toe in the opposite lace (always Saucony), tripped on buckled sidewalk, crinkles in the street from tree roots, a small clump of dirt from a truck tire, no discernible reason, etc. etc.