The hardest day thus far.
Injuries, sickness – being a clumsy (at least on land) walking ticking time bomb, I’ve dealt with quite a bit in almost 200 days, and it’s taught me so much about perseverance, getting creative, and finding ways to accomplish something that seems nearly impossible. There was day 47, where I was skipping down to Topaz beach, tripped, and looked down to see myself standing in a pool of blood, large gash in my toe and nail fighting to hang on. And then there was day 75, where I found myself in the Providence Emergency Room the morning after a kickboxing training mishap, and limped to the beach after x-rays cleared me of breaks. Day 150 – I had what I’m pretty sure was the nora virus and ran home after surfing to puke my brains out. Day 159 I landed my right achilles on my fin, could barely walk for days, and I still have a huge knot where it would have sliced me open had I not been wearing a wetsuit. I had to go to a podiatrist to get my achilles checked. A few other days of sickness, leg injuries, and a sore body brought me to this day, where I couldn’t use my left arm.
Surfing yesterday proved to be difficult, a pain in my shoulder that was intermittent the previous day starting to come about full force. After surfing, pain started radiating towards my chest, foot, and back, and a full day in bed and wearing a sling for support had me nervous for today.
I drove to the beach, no range of motion and unable to move my arm. Couldn’t even put my fullsuit on, so my 1mm short sleeve long john was the only option for “warmth.” I stalled for a bit, hanging around Brothers Burritos, fueled up on my third cup of coffee, ate an ibuprofen (thanks Renee) and grabbed my blue board.
Dragging my board through the sand and praising the sea gods for small waves, I jumped into the Pacific on my surf vessel and one-arm paddled into the uncrowded lineup on my knees. Nearly falling and losing my balance, I regained my composure and breathed deeply, burning in my shoulder. Turning around, I paddled with my right and my core, did a painful one handed push up, and sailed for a quick second. Repeat x 2.
Getting out, I fought to take my long john off one handed, tearing up out of frustration when I ironically tweaked my thumb on my right hand.
Hours later and a stop in urgent care had me feeling a bit defeated. Nothing torn, but definitely a strained rotator cuff. I’d rather be limping than this.
