Things Not To Do While Jogging In Lima Because You Have Spare Time

I am in that category of sporadic bloggers, in case you have not been able to tell. I am reluctant to piffle away the time with miscellaneous stuff that no one cares about but me. However, I have a tale that leads me to a safety tip that may be of use to someone… I went running in Lima the other day and got away later than usual. I try to routinely run before the rush hour gets going. I run a half hour in one direction and then run back to my hotel.

On this morning a fine drizzle fell. It was refreshing but made the sidewalks a little slick. I had run my 30 minutes, turned around and had a concern to get back as quickly as possible because I had interviews to hold. I was not actually in Lima itself; rather a suburb called San Isidro, a nice and well looked after neighborhood. The houses pretty much all have automatic garage doors that lift up and away from the house. They are operated by steel contraptions on the corners of the doors.

Because I had left late, the run became a bit of an obstacle course of people and cars but manageable. When I got to one of these houses where the lady was backing her car out I evaluated the situation. Not wanting to get the door dropped down on me. I decided to go around the front of the car and I sped up to do it. The steel brace was perfectly in my blind spot. I never saw it and propelled myself, plowing directly into it at full speed. The checked inertia nearly knocked me onto my back when I hit it.

I crouched down and put my hand on the point of the collision and said to myself, “Phew, lucky me. I just got a bump and no blood.” This passed in a split second because at that very point blood fairly gushed out of the wound and off of my bald head. I had nothing to control it and it was horrific given the lack of hair and its absorbing capacity.

I needed a little towel or something. A woman came to me and told me to go back to the owner of the house and complain. I asked, “What am I going to complain about? I ran into the bar! Indeed, if you are interested in helping me, tell me where I can get this looked at…” She told me to go to the posta medica about 3 blocks back. This translates to 5 or 6 blocks in my experience. I did head in that direction but realized that that would take time I did not have.

I decided, despite my looking like a character from a cheap horror flick, that I should continue running back to the hotel before it started to hurt and in time to clean myself up for my interviews. I was still 20-25 minutes from the hotel.

The run was full of helpful people asking what happened and offering insights like using kerosene on the wound. The police looked at me in some amazement but only one asked what was going on. Cars with children slowed along side of me with myriad faces pressed against windows to see the funny bleeding man.

I am sure I terrified the receptionist who immediately got me towels and access to the hotel first aid kit. I went to clean up and put some hydrogen peroxide on my wound. Of course I took the commensurate picture. Once at my meetings the ladies there offered helpful suggestions since every so often, the wound would sprout a leak sending a small drizzle down my forehead. We put some vinegar on it and taped it up and by the end of the day, it had scabbed over completely.

The safety tip: Run early in San Isidro and look up, above all in Lilliputianesque countries where the average height is less than 5.5 feet.