Bubble Wrap for Runners – The Importance of Running with a Group!
Blog post written by Stacey Miller, Government and Community Liaison, Inova Loudoun Hospital
To learn more about the Health & Wellness Initiative, click here!
My morning text message to our Sr. ER Nursing Director:
“Runner down with bad ankle injury. I heard a crack, so did she. She is on her way to the Ashburn Healthplex. Her name is … I feel so bad for her, she is in a lot of pain”
In addition to saying they had her and they were taking excellent care of her, she said “I wish I could wrap all you runners up in bubble wrap”. She knew that comment would resonate with me because she has cared for me when I have shown up in the ER after bad fall(s). Face plants have typically been my specialty. I have also notified her of other runners who had been on the way to our ERs over that last couple of years.
Her comment got me thinking though AND not about cool it would be to create some innovative product that acted like bubble wrap that would protect runners from injury – daydream that for a moment fellow runners – but instead how running with a group is a lot like bubble wrap for runners.
Take today’s example, The Ashburn Area Running Club gathered this morning for our weekly Friday Brambleton run. We ran out a little over 2 miles when our runner friend went down. She couldn’t put any weight on her foot and was in a serious amount of pain lying on the path. There were enough of us to act quickly to support and protect her. My friend and I immediately turned around and ran back to get the car and some ice, the others stayed with her. Two examined the place where she fell to figure out how it happened, one had a cell phone which enabled her to call home, others gathered to comfort her and move her closer to where we would be picking her up. We all helped her into my car so I could drive her home.
Imagine if she had been running alone? Maybe some would argue she might not have landed on the exact spot on the sidewalk that caused her ankle to turn, but let’s just say she would have gone down as she did this morning. She was over two miles from her car, not to mention she couldn’t move on her own and the sun was just rising so it was still dark. I am certain she would have felt scared and hesitant to be completely trusting of any stranger who might have stopped to help with the best of intentions. You get what I am saying….
If you look up the definition of bubble wrap you would read that it is plastic packaging material in sheets containing numerous small air cushions designed to protect fragile goods.
As a runner, I would never suggest that any of us are fragile and need protection from the onset, but when we fall we are fragile and vulnerable. The protection we get from running with a group when injury strikes feels to me a lot like bubble wrap.
A healthy lifestyle is more fun with friends, so please don’t run alone!
Blog post written by Stacey Miller, Government and Community Liaison, Inova Loudoun Hospital
To learn more about the Health & Wellness Initiative, click here!