It was like when I first swam correctly–it was harder, and more tiring. It was also fascinating because I had, until yesterday, thought I was never going to have a proper running stride (even when I claimed I’d “run right,” it was only based on what a stranger said and not something I was actually doing).
Continue readingCategory: Sports
#959: Take a Lyra class
Around two decades ago (are we in agreement that sounds longer than 20 years? Never mind; I feel ancient either way), I went to a weekend surf camp in Australia. It was the sort of thing I never imagined I’d do, and therefore decided I had to. This was close to 10 years (that sounds longer than a decade to me in this case) before I started documenting new things, but when you’re in Australia and someone asks if you want to go to surf camp, there isn’t a good reason to say no.
I’ll tell you a secret: if it’s early September in the southern hemisphere, that’s a fairly decent reason.
Continue reading “#959: Take a Lyra class”#951: Cry while swimming
Breaststroke. It wasn’t possible while doing freestyle.
Honestly, I was surprised to find it was possible at all. In fact, my body was in no condition to be swimming in the first place after 5 days of on and off crying, but I thought I would give it a respite from thinking by going to the pool, since normally that’s the only way to turn my brain off.
Imagine my surprise when I found myself gulping for air while tears clogged my goggles.
#948: Swim before work
There is a school of thought–I’m not sure I subscribe to it–that says exercising in the morning is a good practice. It sets a precedent for your day and inspires you to make better choices throughout it.
While I’m skeptical about all of that, I have often thought about how nice it would be to swim before work. Since it’s the only thing I’ve yet to discover that clears my head and calms me down, creating this effect in the morning, before work pressures have stressed me out or exhausted me, seems to make sense.
#944: Take a self-defense class
The particular one I took was called Women’s Fights, which must have been named for a good reason but only makes me think of boyfights from Arrested Development.
Oh, that, and unagi, but that’s not the fault of the name.
#938: Go water running
The person who invented the float belt you wear while water running in deep water had little understanding of the human body’s shape. Let me rephrase that. Like the person who invented the FlipBelt, the person who invented the float belt did not take into account the shape of your average person.
Wait. What I really mean to say is I would be shocked to find out either of these accessories was invented by a woman.
#907: Chromatic Dance
There aren’t a ton of things I will openly tell you I’m really good at. Learning choreography is one of them. Granted, I’d probably be much better at it if I did it more than once every few years, but still, it’s something I’ve always been able to do fairly easily.
So the fact that the choreography to Sia’s “CheapThrills” was difficult to learn is a sign that it was fairly challenging in general. Continue reading “#907: Chromatic Dance”
#906: Do ballet outside
This ballet barre class at Brooklyn Bridge Park was probably the first free thing I’ve ever done in the city that wasn’t packed.
It was also a little ridiculous, since the barre was so short I couldn’t reach it from my height. Continue reading “#906: Do ballet outside”
#899: Ballet Academy East
Taking an introductory ballet class 9 years after the last time I put on ballet shoes (for my adult intro class as an innocent 23 year old) and 22 years after I stopped taking dance lessons as a child, I wondered several things: Continue reading “#899: Ballet Academy East”
#898: Witness a Cleveland championship
Yesterday I did something for the first time that anyone who is younger than 52 also did for the first time.
In case you are reading this far into the future–an alternative future–when Cleveland sports teams consistently both make it into and sometimes win championship series, yesterday’s Cavs win was an anomaly.
People kept coming up to me and saying, “Congratulations!” as if I had individually done something praise-worthy like win an award, or, judging by what gets the most engagement on social media, get engaged. And it didn’t feel out of place. Continue reading “#898: Witness a Cleveland championship”
#896: Major League Soccer game
The good things about soccer:
- The games are short
- The seats, at least at Yankee Stadium where NYCFC plays, are great
- The crowd gets really into the game
#858: Run in Atlanta
As I ran in the early morning darkness (the sun rises late here compared to NYC and I had to work early, so it wasn’t the best timing on my part), I found myself hyper aware of my surroundings.
That’s just good sense in a strange city, especially without the light of day around to make things look less dangerous, and I would have been paying close attention in a new place no matter what. But as I sprinted past the homeless and aimless population of downtown in the pre-dawn stillness, I couldn’t stop thinking of a recent incident in New York where a woman was sliced on her face by a seemingly random man walking by in the still-dark morning. Continue reading “#858: Run in Atlanta”
#837: Don’t run a marathon
It wasn’t the first time I didn’t run a marathon. But it was the first time I planned to run a marathon, registered to run a marathon, started training to run a marathon, but then did not run a marathon.
To put it simply, for those who have not been following the harrowing yet mundane saga, I started running about 2 years ago, spent all of last year completing races to qualify for the NYC marathon, and then after a sickness this winter, was suddenly unable to run anymore. Doctors’ visits, medications, breaks from running did nothing to help, and this summer I eventually admitted I had to stop preparing for my goal.
I still remember the day I finally had to tell myself I couldn’t do it. Continue reading “#837: Don’t run a marathon”
#825: Join a skee-ball league
Yes, this exists. Yes, I joined it. No, I’m not good at it. Continue reading “#825: Join a skee-ball league”
#820: Go to an NFL game
I thought I’d been to a Browns game at some point while growing up, but no one else in my family did, so it must have been some sort of dream–or more accurately, a nightmare, since I hated sports when I was a kid.
We basically did everything wrong: Continue reading “#820: Go to an NFL game”
#816: Have two fantasy football teams
Something you might be wondering is, “What are you thinking?” Or maybe, “Do you remember last year?”
If so, I would say to you, “I have no idea,” and, “Yes.”
#814: Run 1000 miles
A milestone for any runner, getting to this number means a lot to me specifically, particularly right now.
After struggling through every step since March due to the illness I had but never really got rid of, reaching 1000 miles seemed out of reach even 2 months ago.
A New Thing Every Day 