Friday, June 23, 2006

Promise you won't laugh

I didn't make it to Curves today. Or yesterday.

I didn't skip it out of laziness or busyness, although I am very busy and fairly lazy.
I skipped my workout the last two days because I injured myself badly enough that I'm having trouble walking, let alone working out.

You say you want to know how I hurt myself? After I wrote in my blog Wednesday night I went outside with my kids. It was a fabulous night, with really cool clouds that were turning into dragons, griffins, turtles, and other shapes. Then as it got darker we decided to celebrate the most daylight of the year by running around our yard like lunatics. Bethany made a crown of leaves for her head. Colin even joined us. We were having a great time.

Sometimes when the weather is warm and I'm having fun, I get an overwhelming urge to do a cartwheel. The first one that I did wasn't great. I didn't put enough oomph into it. So I needed to try again. The second one was beautiful. My kids said it looked great. I could feel the extension, especially in my hip as there was this tremendous popping and this jolt of pain through my body. I managed to land it perfectly and then proceeded to hop aound for a few minutes before I sat down on the ground in tears.

I wasn't crying because it hurt. (Even though it did. Really bad.) I was crying because I knew that I had just done my last carwheel. I was crying because I'm 41 and I can't go on rollercoasters anymore because of my neck. I was crying because the only good parts of my day Wednesday were dancing with my husband and running around with my kids and I was afraid I'd just really messed it up.

So I didn't go to Curves. My hip/leg/whatever is feeling enough better that I think it's going to be okay, although I'm still sitting on a pillow and walking very carefully.

Getting older sucks. But it's better than the alternative.
(By the way, you can laugh. I did.)




6 comments:

~Jennifer said...

Oh Jane! I'm sorry. I just read a survey on myspace (one of those loooong ones with really silly questions) and one of the questions was "can you do a cartwheel?" At the time I thought, "Probably not anymore." I used to love doing cartwheels. Now I know that my arms couldn't hold my weight, I'd probably break my neck. So, at least you DID one. ;-)The truth is, if you wanted to make turning cartwheels a priority you could get in top cartwheel shape and turn a few more before you retire. chin up, chickie!

RPW said...

I've never been able to do a cartwheel :( so I'm jealous that you've had a lifetime of cartwheels!

God bless...you're still as feisty as ever, even if you're not spinning in circles....

Jane said...

Oh, I'm spinning in circles. :)

(I found some post it notes that say, "If you spin around in your chair things around here will make a lot more sense."

Yep.

Marie N. said...

Oh ouch, I can empathize with you. The Quipper and I are at side-by-side PCs in the hotel business center complaining about how we ache and hurt. We started by using workout machines we have never used before in the athletic club and "finished ourselves off" by riding horses for an hour through a wooded trail that included a few "surprise" jumps where the muddy riverbanks were to muddy to climb.

My hips pop all the time - sometimes it is a little twinge like a cracking knee or knuckle. Other times it is a (minor) injury to the ball and socket joint that can take two to three months to heal completely (or what a ballet dancer would call "completely").

Do I recall correctly that you do ballroom dancing? I bet you'll be back to it, pain free, in a few weeks. But it does stink to have to warm up and stretch even for those little impulsive activities now, doesn't it.

Genuine Lustre said...

Oh. I'm sorry. And here I was, awaiting the weigh-in results!

My body/joints, etc sure isn't what it used to be either. Yoga makes me feel better.

Genuine Lustre said...

I forgot to add . ..that's what you get when you celebrate the summer solstice!! lol