Let’s see - when last we left our interpid hero, he was recovering from a near-ten-mile run and looking forward to a volleyball tournament, no? Well, that was over a week ago, and let me tell you - things didn’t go quite as I had planned.
First, the tournament: I showed up all ready to play on Sunday morning, only to discover that, when it came time to lace ‘em up and play, I’d forgotten my shoes. Sigh. All I had were a pair of sandals - and they would not have been helpful in the slippery grass. So I sucked it up and played my first two matches barefoot. We lost the first match but swept the second one, so Em and I were feeling pretty good; especially since we knew there was a mall close by that would be open by the time we finished that second match.
During our next break, I drove over to the mall and got some new shoes, boosting my confidence even more. Heck, if we’d won one match with me barefoot, how much better would we do with me well-shod? Alas, the world may never find out </tootise roll commercial>… Midway through the third match, I lunged for a ball and turned oddly, ending up with me on the ground in pain after doing something unpleasant to my back.
I finished out that match and the one after that to end our day, but I was less than remarkably effective and I felt really badly about ruining Em’s (my partner’s) day.
The day was made a little better when Lacie and I met up with two friends for dinner, though - there’s a really excellent pasta place near where I played that we dropped by afterwards, and we had a great dinner.
The next morning, I realized I’d done something mildly serious to my back - I had trouble walking, and even straightening up after I got out of a chair. That lasted until Thursday or so - which means that my running pretty much stopped. I still had pain on Friday, but when I woke up Saturday I felt pretty good, so I decided to tackle my thirteen miler as the schedule called for. For that story, though, you’ll have to come back to the next post.
