Dang Stuck Gate!

Last January I screwed up my knee for several weeks trying to jump over a chain between two posts in a parking lot while on vacation in Mexico.  I blogged the mishap largely to try to prevent myself from making the mistake again.

In addition, in last May's Ohlone Wilderness 50k, I had trouble opening at least one gate, a demonstration of my brains and dexterity for which I've been cajoled.

So today, on my 5+ hour run to the 680 corridor via the East Bay Municipal Utility District (EBMUD) Ramage Peak Trail, I had another minor mishap related to gates.  I figure it's worth a brief post-- the effort of writing his will hopefully minimize the chance I'll repeat this in the future.

The gate in question is the background past the horses.  (The above photo was taken on a short family hike more than a year ago.)  During the years I've run this route, the latch has grown increasingly harder to slide open, so eventually I gave up trying to and would just climb over the gate.  But in recent months, in retrospect I figure because of the colder weather, it got unstuck and I could open and close it easily.  Today, it was already pretty warm by the time I reached it 45 minutes into the run, so it was tight.

Knowing I could get it open, I forced the latch out, slamming the back of my right hand  into a rusty metal clip, opening a small flap of skin.  Well, nothing to abort my planned long run on a beautiful sunny weekday off work.  It kept dripping blood.  A few times I licked the blood (not directly over the wound), figuring eventually it would clot and dry.

Then I noticed I dinged and scratched the screen of my Garmin Forerunner 305, which I had just bought as a replacement for the one I had stolen last October.

Well that doubly sucks, I thought, but it appeared (or I hope) that it would still be water resistant and still work.  So, nothing to cry over.  Battle scars that would last.

The run was great, although I didn't have time to do an extra loop in Las Trampas Regional Wilderness , since my ride back after my point-to-point run was my wife returning from work.

One of these days I will bring my camera, blog the run and show you how gorgeous this route is. Due to the remote location and logistics, relatively few people run or hike it, so it feels like my secret private course.

Here's the link for the Garmin Motion Based / Google map of today's run.

Here's how my hand looked with the dried trail of blood despite the licks, as well as the ding and scratch on my Garmin Forerunner 305.

Here's the laceration after showering and washing it out. It kept oozing slowly, so I figured it would benefit with some closure.  (Medically speaking, almost all sutures are optional.) Had I possessed the materials to numb and suture it I might have tried sewing it up, but had some leftover tissue adhesive and needed to pick up my kids from their preschool and daycare.

Post-repair. 

I guess I could show you a lot of juicier better stuff from my job, but too much hassle overcoming the confidentiality issues.