Last Saturday I had the distinct pleasure of participating in a bonspiel with some old friends and acquaintances. Our team was made up of varying skill levels but none of us are competitive curlers by any means. For my part it has been about 5 years since I last picked up a rock but I've many years experience as a curler playing all positions at one point or another and I run regularly so I wasn't concerned. It is a great game and though I always played in what I call the "drinking league", I also give it my all. Unfortunately, this day was no exception.

"Giving it my all" in curling really means a willingness to get down and scrub the ice when called upon. My body is almost at a 90° angle, I put as much weight as I can on the broom and I sweep with gusto. I also love to run and slide down the ice at high speed as I ready myself for the next shot for no particular reason except I like the feel of the speed. This is how I curled for years and this is how I curled on Saturday. Because we as a team were less than stellar players, there were a lot of rocks that needed sweeping. In all we were on the ice for more than 4 hours (a two-game bonspiel). I figured that all the running I'm doing would mean that a couple of easy games of curling would be a breeze. I was right (I had tons of energy left at the end of the day) but I was also very wrong.

On Sunday I went for a run with my dogs and got my first taste of how wrong I was. Running and sliding use very different muscles and whatever muscles are used to connect one's hips to ones legs were screaming in pain as I jogged along the bike path. My only solace was that I had my middle-aged fat dog (Oakley) with me for the first time this year and it was clear that whatever pain I was in, she was struggling more.

While I wasn't surprised that Sunday was painful, Monday provided me a day of aching I didn't expect at all. I couldn't run, hell I could barely walk! Just getting up from a seat made me feel like I was a hundred years old. Tuesday was a travel day and so another day off running which given the continued pain I felt like that was a good thing, surely (I thought) Wednesday would allow me some respite and I'd be able to get back to life. Well, here it is Wednesday and although I did run I have to admit I was still in pain. I had to slow down to a pathetic 7mph, a speed I've not run at for months! I winced from nearly the first step and again for the first time in quite a while, I had to will myself through the entire run.

It just doesn't seem fair, it takes weeks of concerted effort to build up the stamina to run at a decent speed and distance but seemingly only a few hours to push me back to the starting grid. Getting old sucks!