I took a week off from posts, because I spent the week recovering from football injuries sustained a week ago Saturday. My running buddy Chris plays flag football on Saturdays with some guys who mainly seem to be in their 20s and 30s. But c'mon, flag football... how hard could that be. So I showed up. On the drive over I'll confess to even thinking that I'd need to get a run in later in the day to get a real workout.
Oh, sometimes wisdom doesn't come with age. We played for 2.5 hrs in snow and mud. There were a lot of burst of speed, some tackling, and a lot of twisting and hitting. I did OK for a 43yo, but when it was all over...
I couldn't feel my toes. They were frozen and had been stomped on or something. I still have blackened toenail on my right foot, and it took three days for bleeding to stop in my big toe on my left foot - right where the toenail connects with the toe. When my feet began to thaw, the pain was eye-opening. For the next couple of days, it felt as if someone was constantly pushing a pin into the ends of two toes on my right foot. Muscle aches also gripped my. Odd places like my groin absolutely killed. My quads felt ripped (and not in the good weight-lifter sense of that word, either). I even had shoulder pain - which was odd because I hadn't thrown the ball at all.
So I did something I haven't done since I began to run. I took three days off. When I started up again, it was sheer hell (mainly from the groin injury). But I ran 2 miles the first day, 2.5 on day two, three the following day, and 4 yesterday.
None of the runs were easy, but I do seem to be recovering slowly.
Chris called my on Friday and asked if I wanted to play again this past weekend. I demurred. I will do it again, but will have to work on strengthening some areas that were brutalized. I also think I'll pass on days where it's so clod that I can't feel my feet. No good would come of that.
So, final thoughts as this old man tangled with the whipper-snappers: Youngsters recover faster than oldsters, ibuprofen should be consumed like air, I've still got some pretty good game for a geezer (with 2 TDs and 2 interceptions - one of which I ran for a touchdown), Chris Ford is a remarkable all-around athlete (he looked like Lynn Swann out there on some of his receptions).
I'm off to sunny Orlando this week with Marisa. We'll do some biz, see some manatee, and get some running in. Ciao.
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