Friday morning I arrived back from a week of working in India. I had heard numerous horror stories of others’ experiences and I seem to have had the exact opposite. It’s another country where road lane markings are merely suggestion only and where a faulty car horn would be a disaster as it’s used in the same way those in other countries use an indicator. As you can imagine, it was very noisy and left me curious as to how many Panadols are consumed daily in India.

I had a great sleep on the plane and when I arrived home, decided my running partner and I should go for a run. This was to serve a few purposes 1) Doggy Shallot hadn’t been out that morning given I was coming home 2) I’m training for a marathon and needed to get a shorter run in before my long Sunday one 3) I figured that I needed more sleep and the run would help.

We started out dodging some puddles as the rain had continued to fall (and still is) over my week away. My running partner has a great lead which joins her to me on a Velcro belt which frees up my arms to run. Yes, running is a sport for more than just your legs! At a rather slow pace, we rounded a corner onto the pavers lining the area to the ferry pier.

From my left a golden retriever bounded out. It was at this point that I have no idea what happened next. I’m guessing my running partner decided that we were going too slowly to out pace the other dog and she decided for a sprint finish. After all we were very near to the location of her last sprint finish. This undid the lead (which is how it is designed to work) and took my feet out from under me (not part of the design) due to the slippery surface.

I came to with my running partner in the distance, another dog standing over me and an amah trying to lift me off the ground. This would have been a sight given she probably weighed half of what I do. I pushed the dog off me who subsequently decided to try to chase my running partner. She could out run anything and anyone and I was concerned about catching her. I asked the amah to call off her dog so I could catch mine. Her dog, named ‘Lucky’ was very keen to play but fortunately Doggy Shallot decided to come back and check that I was ok.

I was feeling a little sore and disappointed to have a good run interrupted. With that, I started off again. By the time I arrived home, my right wrist was quite sore and starting to swell. I struggled to get my clothes off so I could shower and once out, I followed the RICE process that the St John’s Ambulance people taught me years ago.

I was feeling a bit faint at that point so went and spent the afternoon at the Waves with my wrist bandaged. Mr Shallot finished his work drinks and met me at home and checked out the damage. Periodically I was still feeling faint and my wrist had continued to swell.

That night, I ‘slept’ with it resting on a pillow. I couldn’t get comfortable and was in pain whenever I moved. Saturday morning I made an appointment to see a doctor.

After spending most of the day with various health professionals, both in DB and on the Island, I’m now typing left-handed with my other arm in a fiberglass cast for the next four weeks.

Thanks to Elton John for the title to this post.