Exercise is awful, really. Some people reading this are thinking something along the lines of “yeah man, running is boring” or “I don’t have time for it either.” You are not understanding me. Spend the next year gaining 40 pounds and sitting in a stationary position for 9 hours a day, and then get back to me. To those who are reading this and get it, congratulations, you also know what drowning feels like.
I have spent the last two weeks focused on my health. No dairy and no more red meat. Fish if possible, poultry when necessary. I’ve started drinking Miller Lite. I ride my bike, skate or run for at least an hour every night. I’ve started doing stretches for the first time in my life because I have no other choice. I’ve discovered injuries I never knew I had. Unbeknownst to me, for the last two decades I should have been wearing wrist guards. Or, perhaps more accurately, I was just too cool to wear them. For some reason one wrist-wrap makes you look kind of hard but two makes you look scared. I’m scared.
I’m coming to terms with the fact that my body no longer feels like my own and trying to reclaim it is more than a little depressing. There are days where I just don’t feel like doing this anymore. I started this weekend skating a park I’ve been riding for over a decade with guys I’ve known even longer and somehow it didn’t feel natural. I wasn’t comfortable trying to air quarters and I spent most of my time going over basic tricks on the bauer. On the way home I decided I owed myself a hamburger.
Now don’t get me wrong, this wasn’t just any hamburger. This was a pineapple, BBQ, bacon burger. It was delicious, it was juicy, it was everything I’m not supposed to be having right now. And it made me feel guilty. So guilty, in fact, that upon my return home I decided I needed to skate some more to justify it. So I forced myself over to a newer park where I found a bunch of younger rippers skating in a way I haven’t in a long time — like they have something to prove. Their motivation was contagious. After my hour-long morning bike ride, after a 3-hour session, and after that fucking hamburger… I found myself full of energy and having a blast. It just so happens shame and fear of embarrassment are fantastic motivators.
Edit from the day is by Steve Matiasek.
“I’m coming to terms with the fact that my body no longer feels like my own…”
I hate that feeling so much. And in my head I can still do all the same tricks I could ten years ago but then when I go to just do a soul grind I can barely aim my feet at the ledge haha.
Its funny how I notice that as most of the first and second generation of bladers age, articles in mags start documenting the new challenges we face. I started skating back in 94, in the Mad Beef times, and still do, although a lot less and with a smaller repertoire of tricks. Like most bladers that have my age.. my joints hurt.. and experience deep nostalgia when I watch old school videos on the web. I think ONE is doing a great job at making quality articles for us the old bladers: lookbacks, etc.
