seriously? ouch

Imagine if you will a few miles of uninterrupted sidewalk stretching along side the SF Bay. Starting at Fisherman's Wharf and continuing all the way to AT&T park and beyond, the path is strewn with cafes, restaurants, pedi-cabs, tourists and locals exercising over their lunch breaks. There's a one-mile segment that I frequent over my own lunch breaks a couple times a week.

On part of my mile, there are obstacles. Or, as I like to think of them, giant concrete stair steps to walk over because it's good for my legs and backside! haha

Anyway, each "stair" is about two-feet high, three-feet across, and two-feet deep. I am tall and have long legs, so it's not a hard step up for me, but it's just enough. Sometimes I even add a little hop up, for kicks. And over the past six months or so, had you been frequenting that same mile with me, you would see a curly-haired girl bobbing up and over these blocks, making the most of her lunch hour during an otherwise sedentary day in an office cubicle. There's an art to hitting the blocks in stride: always ascend on the side closest to the Bay, since they are a *smidge* lower, due to a slant in the sidewalk, and always approach them straight on.

Cue to this past Thursday.

Having successfully navigated my self-made obstacle course to meet AZ for lunch at the Ferry Building, we ate and parted ways just prior to where the blocks re-start for my walk back to work.

AZ crossed the street, I turned, and breaking both of my rules, attempted to not only hop up on the wrong side of the cube, but I went at it from an angle, too.

Did I mention these are made of solid concrete?

I knew as soon as I attempted to get on the block that I was doomed. Bam, bam, bam! I was down. Left thigh, right shin and wrists breaking my fall on the hard-ass concrete. I was back up immediately, even before AZ made it across the street. I called her and was like "Look, I just fell and nobody even stopped!" She was baffled by my Grace, I'm sure. Or probably not. This is par for the course.

I hobbled the 10 minute walk back to the office. No bleeding, no audible snapping of limbs, so I was grateful. Back at work, I made a beeline for the bathroom to asses the damage to my legs. Not. Pretty.

Big hematoma bruise on my left thigh; big shallow bruises and scrapes on the right shin; sore wrists and injured pride. Ice and elevation in order.

Grace strikes again. *sigh*