Day 332 - What.

My exercise life has been somewhat of a disaster recently.

I've been going to these yoga classes that I don't totally understand, but there was an instructor there one time who was wearing a shirt that said Spiritual Gangster, and I can assure you that every time I've been to that studio I've felt at least somewhat spiritually threatened. I have decided that I am not all that interested in inversions, and I prefer breathing out both nostrils at the same time. Seriously, this yoga practice involves meditation where we breathe out of one nostril at a time. I have had to repeat the inner mantra be open throughout every single class.

Yes, I've developed a mantra and I'm actually using it. And yes, it's be open.

Breaking from the strange and spiritually threatening yoga sessions, I decided I would take run along a trail in the river valley in Edmonton on Sunday evening. Of course, I woke up to snow and -10C weather, but I didn't let common sense keep me from running in my woefully inadequate fall gear later in the day. I ran along a trail marked 'horse trail' partway through, that was littered with contradictory signs of a horse head that was crossed out. So it was a horse trail, but no horses were allowed.

Things were going well until I started thinking about bears, at which point I began to panic.

I texted Giselle, asking whether Edmonton has bears. She told me that Edmonton only has squirrels and rabbits.

I texted Katelyn, asking whether I would get eaten by a bear running alone along a trail in Calgary, and she said I probably wouldn't.

So I kept running.

The trail was actually really beautiful, and there truthfully was very little snow. I took my headphones out because I was still a little worried about not hearing a bear, and it turned out that nature had some very nice sounds. Also, there were car sounds because the trail was right near the road. And that was comforting. So there was that.

Then the sun started to go down, and I realised that I probably should have run earlier, brought a running buddy, or carried a flashlight, none of which I did. Oops.

So I started to run back home.

Then I noticed that the fingers of my right hand were going numb and acting kind of funny. And my arm began to grow increasingly painful. 

Yes, folks, I had dislocated my shoulder by running.

Worst part was that I couldn't reduce it, for some reason. I'm normally pretty good at just grabbing the offending limb and jamming it back into its loose socket, but this thing would not go in, no matter how hard I tried. So I ran along in increasing pain, with numb right fingers, texting out an SOS with my left hand, so that at least if I were caught on the dark trail alone, huddled in my cold, sweaty running gear, shoulder dislocated, into the night, perhaps someone would be able to direct the police to my frozen remains.

I'm really not sure how texting Amy in Kuala Lumpur was a useful part of that strategy, but let's say it somehow was.

Long story short, I eventually got home, looked up how to properly reduce a shoulder, held my upper arm against my body with my left hand, grabbed onto my desk with my right hand, and turned until my arm was held in external rotation.

Then I pushed.

The pop was so satisfying.

I think I'm ready to leave Edmonton.

Day 322 - Far From Home

I've rounded the curve on my 365 day challenge, and the end is now in sight.

I lost count somewhere along the way, and counted my last blog entry as Day 244, but it mustn't have been, because the challenge ends on 3 December 2013. I've counted backward and decided that today must be around Day 322.

Currently many kilometres from home in beautiful (really!) Edmonton, Alberta, I've been struggling with getting my sweat in. For the past week or so, I've been recovering from a pretty nasty cutaneous drug eruption. By all means, Google Image that if you've got a strong stomach, but trust me when I say that it has been neither pretty nor comfortable. I haven't been feeling my best, and I've wanted to keep my somewhat-disfigured chest, neck, and shoulders under wraps, so I have been taking a lot of long walks in a high-necked jacket and cap instead of spending my time in skimpy gym clothes.

Today, feeling physically better thanks to some heaping helpings of prednisone, and also feeling more confident, I decided that it was finally time to get out and get moving. 

It's challenging figuring out how to be active in an unfamiliar city. I don't have synchro or triathlon practises to occupy me, and the Goodlife gym I have a membership for is over an hour's walk away from my accommodations. The Yoga Loft, however, is about a half hour's walk away, and some yoga seemed as good a way as any to get myself moving on this dreary, drippy Saturday in Edmonton, so I trudged out the door in boots and knittted cap.

I find practicing at a new studio incredibly challenging.

You never know what the people are going to be like, nor what the instruction will entail. I'm used to rocking out to awesome tunes in my comfort zone - my jute mat at Studio 330. I'm familiar with how Jen, Dallas, and Bethany lead, and I know they won't pull on my stiff left shoulder, even if it means my child's pose is a bit funky looking. I've left other studios feeling criticised and corrected, or maybe just like I didn't fit in.

Fortunately, The Yoga Loft was a different experience.

It was nothing like Studio 330, though. I found myself on a not-so-sticky borrowed mat in an unusually contemplative environment. There was no music! There was lots of meditation! The room was filled with people breathing deeply and loudly. There was none of the usual giggling and informal commentary I am used to.

I was a fish out of water.

Nevertheless, I felt welcomed. I left feeling restored and happy I'd made the half hour walk to my mat. Will I do it again? Of course! Probably tomorrow, in fact. I'm happy to have stepped out of my comfort zone for a little while. But do I miss Studio 330? Like crazy. Can't wait to get back.

There are no earth-shattering revelations here, so I'll just take a second to recommend The Yoga Loft and ask you to take a few minutes out of your weekend to try something scary in the name of sweat. It might just work out.