I feel old!

Two weeks ago I was playing slowpitch softball on a women's team. We were having a great game, I had been hitting well and I was feeling good! Around the 5th inning, I was running the bases between second and third, when all of a sudden I was falling on my face in the dirt. As I fell, I turned sideways, landed on the side of my right knee and I heard a loud POP!

Its amazing what can go through your mind in just a small moment of time. I really wanted to just lie on the ground and wait for them to call time and scoop my body up off the dirt. All I could think was "OH MY GOSH THAT HURT SO BAD!" and then the stronger thought was "THE PLAY IS STILL GOING... I HAVE TO GET TO 3RD BASE!" All within the second that I had fallen, I was thinking those thoughts, then rolled onto my back and somehow my momentum kept me going until I was able to get back up on my feet. I painfully bumbled and stumbled to 3rd, then slid under the tag. I was safe, but boy was I in pain! It was one of the proudest moments of my life because I knew I had given it my all rather than giving up!

When I finally stood up I was laughing inbetween my gasps of pain. I was imagining how uncoordinated I must have looked. I asked for a runner and they had another gal come to replace me. But then they all turned around and walked away. I had to call them back to help me walk into the dugout. Sad to say that this was the only time in my life that I needed someone to help me off the playing field or court of any game! I felt old!

My teammates were saying things like "No pressure, but you are ok right? We don't have any extra players to relpace you!" I know this is rude, but there is one girl that I find rather annoying and don't particularly like as a person nor respect as a player. I was explaining where my leg hurt (basiclly all the way around my leg from the knee down to my ankle), she said "Oh, welcome to how I feel every day!" I wanted to slap her. Is that rude? Sorry.

I was still laughing mostly because that is how I deal with stressful situations... and how could I not laugh because I hurt myself by tripping over NOTHING! But I was hurting bad. I could barely walk, let alone run, but I finished out the game. We lost by one point after two extra innings.

After nearly two weeks of icing and lots of ibuprofin, my leg is starting to feel normal again when I am just sitting around. It still hurts when I try to run or when I stretch, so any real physical activity other than mowing the lawn has been out. For the first few days I felt very depressed when I saw other people running and playing. I became very aware of my injury when I played with my kids outside. The thought kept coming to mind that I wouldn't be able to run to them if they needed me. Oh the things I take for granted!

For the past 10 years I haven't been as active as I was in high school, but I've always been able to do the things I wanted to do! I feel so old! But at least I am still laughing about that too.

I have learned how valuable and precious a working body is! I am so thankful for a healthy body that can walk and run when I need it to. I swear when this is over I am taking better care of it!