Bored
Well I’ve found myself moving full steam ahead on this whole recovery thing, and it seems to be going pretty well. I still can feel progress every day. Last tuesday was my first day in the pool, water walking. You can imagine how exciting that is. Actually I’ll just tell you, it’s not. And five minutes in, I was bored out of my mind. No internet, no books, no iPod. Just goosebumps and some walking, with fish lady zooming past me every now and again. I got to thinking - it seemed my only option - about hiking and such.
I don’t like hiking. I think it’s boring. And that is how my addiction to mountain running got started. I started running on those trails, as fast as I could. Until I wanted to throw up, until I did throw up. That’s how I like to live, through challenge, through pushing myself to the next level.
Walking in the pool, I felt lonely. I felt out of my element. I watched as triathletes streamed through the gym laughing with one another on the way from or to a workout. I used to be one of them, I used to be an athlete. I watched them and it slowly began to sink in what a full recovery means for me. It doesn’t mean walking up stairs without pain, or being able to carry heavy objects to and fro. It means running up mountains, running them fast. It means cycling in the mountains without fear or thought of injury. I suppose somehow I lost those visions of grandeur. Perhaps because this ordeal has been rockin’ for over a 13 months now. Who know, but somewhere along the line my hope diminished to the point of near nothingness. And since then it’s been limping along, just getting me through the motions. Funny how miserable boredom drove me to reinvigorated enthusiasm for the radness of life. Thank you ripped triathlete people.
Need a little inspiration? Read this and then this, the whole way through.
Filed by ryanroth at May 3rd, 2007 under Life, Young & Hip