Exercise v. the Stock Market, or The Boy v. Me

Today, Jack and the Boy went skiing. Last week, the Boy broke one his skis trying to nail a 3, but he tail dragged the landing and the ski cracked.* This week, the Boy got new skis. I heard the dudes at the ski shop gave the Boy fist bumps for breaking a ski. "You are doing it right!" they said. I knew the Boy was going to try the gnarly stuff today, so I let Jack and the Boy have their male bonding experience. Claire-Adele is going to the Winter Ball tonight, so I stayed home and to make sure all of that went according to plan.  She has it all organized, but Jack didn't know if he'd be back in time to drive Claire-Adele and her boyfriend to the dance. Which meant I went to the YMCA and then went to lunch with a friend.

New skis

At the YMCA, I ran on the treadmill. I had been running for 17:28 minutes listening to Alicia Keys when--wham--my left knee decided to stop working.

Fuck. This is the same knee I with the ACL, MCL and meniscus I tore two years ago.

I think I over-extended my knee and pulled whatever muscle that is. I had to turn the treadmill off and hobble to the front desk and asked if someone could help me get to my car. I could walk (kind of), but my leg was really stiff. I parked two blocks away as there was no parking in the YMCA parking lot because

a) It was Saturday morning, a popular time to exercise,
b) It is January, a popular time to exercise, and
c) It was raining and the even though we Seattlites are a hardy breed, sometimes it is nicer to exercise indoors when the weather outside sucks.

One of the guys who finished working out himself let me grab his arm and walked me back to my car. We chatted while his wife took their screaming toddlers to the Farmers' Market. He only gets half-points for his Boy Scout badge for helping an old lady cross the street as his good deed got him out of a dreadful chore. Nevertheless, his help was invaluable. The biggest thing he did was talk to me to distract me from my achiness.

"Exercise is supposed to be good for you in the long-term," he said. "But somethings things don't work out in the short term."

Exercise > Sitting on the couch

"Just like the stock market," I said. "It goes up for time but every now and then it takes a nose dive."

Stock Market Long-Term Gains > Money in a Mattress

Yep. In another nose dive. At least now I have a better sense of how to treat it. Compared to two years ago, I figured out much faster what I could and couldn't do when I walked, like bend my knee. I know ibuprofen is my friend. I know how to test if moving makes my leg better or worse. And most importantly, I know that almost no one tears their ACL while running on a treadmill.

Still, it makes me wonder if I would have been better off skiing with Jack and the Boy today. I'll never know, but I could guess.

The Boy does this and bounces back. I am borderline immobile from the treadmill. Perhaps the most important part of this isn't whether I ski or not, but rather my age and general fitness.

Fourteen year old boy > Forty-something mom

* Translation -- He did a jump, tried to do a 360 degree spin, landed on the back of his ski and it cracked.