Track is Back, and I Blew Up my Depends!!!!

      Well, yesterday was 11 weeks post surgery, and I celebrated by going to the track at College of the Canyons for an abbreviated track workout. It was nice to see some of my fellow Santa Clarita Runners again after a few months away. The planned workout for the night was either 800's, or if you were planning to run the L.A. Marathon this weekend, 400's. I opted for the 400's at a pace where I could talk(thanks, Jeff) and not kill myself the first time back at the track. I got there a little early, did my mile warm up, then stretched and watched the youth track runners practice their starts. Soon everyone showed up, warmed up, and were ready for Margaret to coach us, as Phil was missing. We started out with the usual drills. These were tough on my incontinence issue. We started out with skipping. Every little skip felt like I was peeing. Next were high knee skips, and I had the same sensation. Yes, the butt kickers and karaokes did the same to me. Next up were 3 laps of easy curves, then strides on the straights, alternating speeds. This wasn't so bad, as it was just running, changing pace, and more running. The 400's were up, and I did the first 2 with the group, then sat one out, then did 2 more. I did them at about 6:50 pace, fast enough to get some speed in, but no too fast to cause pain the next day. After my four 400's, I proceeded straight to a one mile cool down. this is when I had some pain in my lower left abdomen. It wasn't real sharp, almost like a side ache I used to get when I first started running.
     I used the restroom to empty my bladder before my 40-minute drive home, and I didn't think my pad was too full, so I decided I would change it when I got to my house. When I stopped to top off the gas tank, I noticed a wet feeling between my legs. I thought it was sweat from the 4 plus miles I had just finished at the track. I decided not to take a chance and drove straight home, where I discovered that my Depends had blown a seal. It wasn't the top seal, which I had customized, but the bottom of the depends had come open to allow liquid and little white balls to run into my undershorts. Luckily, they were the tight spandex ones, so they held everything inside. I'm not sure why the Depends blew up, but I'm glad it happened after practice, not during, although by now I'm not too embarrassed by much anymore. Next time, I will change before the trip home, lesson learned.