Just when I think I'm sort of in shape... I go and start a new activity. A few weeks ago, that activity was sawing logs and chopping wood while camping. I know how to chop and saw, it's just been a really long time since I'd done so. This week my roommate has suddenly become infatuated with the Irish game of hurling, which if you're unfamiliar with it, is similar to field hockey or lacrosse. It's played with a big stick, called a 'hurley', and a ball that's slightly smaller than a baseball.
The hurleys got here two days ago and I've ended both nights with a large dose of Ibuprofen and about half a bottle of Arnica (rub-on hippie medicine). My hamstrings are sore, my groin is tight, my obliques and lower back hurt and the muscles in my forearm are so tender that I can hardly make a fist. The outside of my forearm is so covered in bruises from the hurley handle and last week's soccer game that, as my roommate put it, it looks like I have a disease.
But it's a fun game involving some familiar movements like positioning on the field and using one's body to shield the ball from opponents, and completely unfamiliar motions like picking the ball off the ground using only a stick, and swinging the hurley with one's hands in the opposite grip as in baseball. Those new movements have totally tweaked a few muscles who seem to rather have been left alone.
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2 comments:
Trust the Irish to invent a game which just about cripples you... sounds like a whole heap of fun.
Eh, it's mostly me being out of shape than anything that's caused the achiness. Jogging around for miles is supposedly good for you, but I hate it. I stay in shape other ways, usually ones that involve shoulder-charging and swinging big sticks around.
And boy do they take the game *seriously* over there! The whole country shuts down for the championship.
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