Injuries-A Memoir

Dear Readers,

It is time for my monthly blog. Okay, it was, I'm a month late... I'm not sure exactly what I will write about at this point, so it is going to be a stream of consciousness with maybe no point. Like Seinfeld, but not quite as funny. Actually over the course of the month, I did decide. I'm writing about my injuries, if you don't like me, or humor, you may find this boring. Even if you do like me or humor you may find this boring.

This summer went by fast, and I don't think I capitalized on it. I haven't been biking much, didn't do an open-water swim. (actually the first time I haven't done two open-water swims since '05 (when I just did one). This summer I've just gone from injury-to-injury to injury.

I'm counting the sty in my eye as an injury. That was the first injury, although there must have been something before that. Went to the eye doctor and took some antibodics. Then I hurt my groin while swimming breaststroke. Next was my back, which was hurt (really reinjured) while rummaging through a drawer looking for a missing shirt. It's been a couple of weeks. Now I'm finally feeling better, but just really waiting for my next injury.

I really have no idea what it's going to be or when it's going to happen. Am I going to re-injure myself and get a familiar injury like a sprained ankle from stepping into a gopher hole while tossing a Frisbee or hyper-extending my knee while playing Frisbee golf or am I going to hurt myself in a way I've never done before, hmmm, that might be hard... perhaps breaking my arm falling off a stationary bike in a spinning class?

I have a tough time deciding which is worse a new injury or an old familiar one. A re-injury means I have a chronic issue, something that might never completely go away. Like my right shoulder injury. Or if I hurt something new, like my left knee last November (playing Ultimate Frisbee), I now have pain and worries about a body part, I previously simply enjoyed and trusted (like my left knee).

Since I twisted my left ankle the last day of being a counselor at a summer camp while playing basketball (the summer before my sophomore year in college), I don't think I've gone a whole year-most of the time six months- without hurting something. That fall I think I sprained the same ankle several more times, which might have been one of the reasons (besides being a bench warmer) which led me to switch from the club sport of Ultimate Frisbee to the club sport of water polo (first and only off the bench) at my alumna matter. I remember playing a water polo tournament with a sprained ankle, which was a tournament I should have probably skipped.

My injury pattern did change a little once I moved to DC. So from the age of 20 to moving to DC my injury of choice was a sprained ankle (both ankles, I think fairly equally). Sometimes the sprains hindered my mobility or enjoyment. Like when I sprained my ankle leading a backpacking trip in Vermont. Most of my sprains came from jogging before I got arch supports. One came from misstepping while stepping down from a log. Two came within a mile of my parent's house. The furthest one came either in Vermont or Western Connecticut, although the idea that I lived over two months on Cape Cod and didn't twist my ankle there perplexes me.

Sometimes they changed the course of my life. Like when I sprained my ankle teaching environmental education, some tag game, which is incidentally the same way I got stitches on my chin. After that debacle I felt like I needed a job, where either I was very unlikely to sprain my ankle (a desk job), or I didn't need my ankle to perform work (also a desk job). So that miserable sprained ankle season, a fall in New England when (and where) I didn't get to enjoy the autumn foliage which was something I was really hoping to enjoy- or rest my ankle or just enjoy being out in the woods of Western Connecticut- was my last job, in which a sprained ankle, may be likely to happen or have adverse effects on my job performance. So if you were going to trace my career path and wonder why I'm currently studying statistics- look no further.

Some people sell-out (or take a crappy job) for money, some for prestige, some to avoid ankle injuries.

Peace,
GCNOF