Faceplant update

Got some ibuprofen aboard now, midnightish; just one tab, but it's helping -- so long as I don't move the bad shoulder in certain ways. Unfortunately, that shoulder is the side I normally sleep on. Heaven only knows how it's going to feel in the morning. But it could be worse, yes, I acknowledge it could be much worse. No bruises have developed, and every body part is functioning more or less normally.

What I do appear to have are very sore and/or strained muscles. To ease them, a couple of times this afternoon and evening I've rubbed in a camphor/menthol/methyl salicylate ointment I found in the medicine cabinet. That does seem to be a bit helpful. Smells good, too. The greatest discomfort, with occasional stabs of outright pain, is in the spot I'd injured a few months ago, where the right-arm deltoid ties into the biceps. The left deltoid insertion is bothering me too, though not nearly as severely. In both arms there's also extension of soreness into the biceps and triceps themselves. That's where I've been applying the ointment.

I can tell my brachial plexus is going to be stiffened up tomorrow; it's already grumbling. The nape of my neck is also muttering vague threats. Some fingers are offering disgruntled comments on my clumsiness as well. My wrists likewise are not happy about their role in my failed attempt to stave off gravity. The lower back figures what the hey, might as well jump on the bandwagon too.

At least my glasses didn't go flying off and get lost in the leaf litter. Instead they stuck close enough to my face for it to ram them into the underlying solid surface of the trail. While my face is unmarked, the lens frame is canted inward at the bottom and one earpiece is winged outward from parallel. I was able to jigger them back into shape enough to wear the rest of the time I was out, but they need a visit to the eye doctor for reformation.

Ah, well, it could have been worse. The last time I took a faceplant fall like that, I broke my elbow. Of course, that was onto asphalt rather than leaf-littered grass. So I should count my blessings, eh?

There will be another update when I arise tomorrow morning. Assuming I do in fact arise tomorrow morning. Assuming I'm not too stiff to do more than slither out of bed and hobble painfully as far as the catfood dispenser, lest the felines take breakfast into their own paws, then collapse, whimpering, onto the nearest soft surface.

Wherein the author does a faceplant

It all started out so well this morning....

Or, um, no. No, actually, it didn't start out all that well; for whatever reason I'd been unable to get to sleep till nigh on 5:00 a.m. Only the desperation move of getting out of my sleepless bed to do some proofreading finally coaxed Morpheus out of hiding. (Or was it the Benadryl?) When the alarm went off a little before 10:00, it was so tempting to just shut it off and go back to sleep.

But no! No, I'd planned to go on the inaugural hike over a newly opened section of trails in the Appleton Grass Rides this morning, to be there in time for the ceremonial ribbon-cutting, congratulatory speech-making, and group march. Stride-off time was 11:00 a.m.

So, sleep-deprived as I was, I struggled upright, fed the cats, pulled on suitable clothes, and headed out -- forgetting in my foggy haste a pair of mittens or gloves, though as it turned out the day was pleasant enough that they weren't needed for more than a fit of futile fretting on the drive over.

There was a good turnout -- couple of dozen, easy, with a lighthearted leavening of dogs revelling in their off-leash freedom. We did the ceremonials, then headed out. I found myself in the first cluster, marching alongside two of the men who'd done yeoman service in planning and clearing this abandoned and overgrown segment of the Rides. Walking briskly over the leaf-strewn undulations of the ride, we were merrily chatting, enjoying the day....

Then my toe caught the low stub of a cut-off sapling, hidden by the leaf litter, lurking unseen till my tripping over the damned thing revealed it.

Next thing I know, I'm toppling forward -- downhill, just to make it all more exciting -- my abrupt embrace of gravity ending in a full-body faceplant, complete with arms flung forward in a futile attempt to break my fall, which did nothing except rewrench a previously injured shoulder.

My solicitous companions, reassured by my regaining my feet and my evident possession of full mobility, were kind enough not to laugh. I brushed off the leaf litter coating my forward aspect, ruefully examined the sad warping of my glasses' frames, winced at the sullen protests offered by my shoulder at any attempt to move it in certain directions, and went on with the hike.

I knew by the time we returned to our starting point and I got into my car -- well, not my car, actually; the one I'm renting while my own dear little Scion is in the body shop getting healed of the damage inflicted in a moment of inattention on my part; but that's another story -- when I drove off I knew I was going to be feeling some after-effects, and so it has proven.

My first stop after Appleton was the barn, to visit and ride my horse Ben.



Lucky boy! Between my sleep-deficit fog and the low mutterings of developing body aches, I'd had enough after only ten, maybe fifteen minutes. Well, not wholly lucky; I turned over his reins to the young woman who exercises him for me, so he didn't entirely get out of working, just didn't have to bear as heavy a burden, or work as correctly as I insist on expecting from him.

Then home again, home again, jiggedy-jig, for a belated lunch, a reviving cup of coffee, and a judicious ingestion of aspirin, with stronger stuff in reserve if things really start going south. Now, some five hours later, I can actually trace the lines of the various aches brewing in arms, legs, neck, and back. It'll be, um, interesting to see how stiff I'll be when I get up (or try to, anyway) tomorrow morning.

So, that was my mostly excellent adventure today. I do hope tomorrow isn't quite so exciting.