|
Back in the saddle I�m walking like an old lady today. I seriously needed a cane or walker when I first got out of bed this morning, and I�ve stumbled and staggered through the rest of my day. I�m not sick; I just went back to Irish dance last night and overdid it. My calves are an absolute world of agony, screaming and burning like the fires of hell, and my feet�I�m not sure that I even want to talk about my feet because then I�d have to think about them and even thinking about them hurts.It was worth it though, to dance again. Dance ended last June and then ended more permanently when I wrecked my ankle while Irish dancing at a wedding in July. In December I had finally reached the point where I could dance for about 20 minutes without my ankle screaming at me to stop and then pouting in the corner. Three days later I developed an inner ear infection and had to miss the rest of December. Last night I went back and danced for almost the full hour. I did half of the warm-up, then started in on a soft-shoe reel (specifically the �Reel �O Death�, which is what I was doing when I wrecked my ankle) and it was�fine. I was a little hesitant on the part that I had rolled my ankle on, but otherwise good, no fear. My new ankle brace, while it looks ridiculous, makes my ankle joint incredibly steady. I can really feel the difference; the instability in my other ankle. We moved on to a slip jip, which I think went better than ever before. We switched to hard shoe and that�s when it began to hurt. Not my ankle, but the classes I�d missed. I was way behind; still working on the treble jig while everyone else was perfecting a treble reel. On the plus side, my treble jig is better now. I figured out what was causing me trouble in the second step and discovered that if I just dance faster and look ahead instead of staring at the hardwood, I actually dance much better and have improved balance. I just need to speed up a bit and soon I�ll be learning new dances too. So I�m now officially back on the horse and here to stay, however much it bucks I�m not gonna be thrown again. My goal: no new illnesses or injuries in 2005 beyond the common cold. (Say it with me: yeah, riiiiight.) 2005-01-05 || 7:00 p.m. |
