![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
I've discovered a new muscle that I never knew I had before. Looking at your foot from above, start at the ankle and go diagonally forward and out until you're about halfway to the edge of your foot, and there's a kind of squishy bit which is a muscle. You can feel it in action if you try to turn your foot sideways such that you drive the ball and instep into the floor while lifting the little toe and outside edge of the foot. This muscle is obviously important to balance, but it's not something one exercises regularly in everyday life, just occasionally and lightly when you're on an uneven surface.
My father is big into skiing, and it's been something we've done as a family for as long as I can remember. By which I can't remember a time in which I didn't know how to ski at all. I think one of my parents once remarked that I first stood on skis before I was fully comfortable walking. We only got a few weekends in a year when I was growing up, so I'm not an amazing skier, but at my best there was nothing you didn't need a helicopter to get to that I couldn't handle, albeit possibly not gracefully.
About seven years ago I stopped skiing. Going off to college, developing more of a social life, and increasing friction when I vacationed with my family had led to skiing less and less often, until I eventually stopped going with them. Two years ago, my brother moved to Boulder, Colorado, and started skiing out there a lot. My parents started making their ski vacations double as visiting him, so they now vacation in Vail.
Somehow, my father talked me into coming along last weekend, and I skied for the first time in, as I've said, seven years. It turns out skiing uses the muscle I talked about quite a bit. And mine had rather atrophied from seven years of little use. It hurt. A lot. Pretty constantly, reducing a bit as I took weight off the foot, getting worse more than that when I used it. A couple times the pain made it up to my hip. Not so fun.
On the other hand, I discovered that I can still ski. By the end of the third day (my second skiing), I was taking on some decently challenging runs. By the end of the fourth, I had to cut the day short because of the pain. It was a lot of fun. Now I kind of want to get back into it. I have the equipment, I have a good portion of the skill, I just need the musculature back. Which means strengthening a muscle that I don't usually use. Fun, fun.
My father is big into skiing, and it's been something we've done as a family for as long as I can remember. By which I can't remember a time in which I didn't know how to ski at all. I think one of my parents once remarked that I first stood on skis before I was fully comfortable walking. We only got a few weekends in a year when I was growing up, so I'm not an amazing skier, but at my best there was nothing you didn't need a helicopter to get to that I couldn't handle, albeit possibly not gracefully.
About seven years ago I stopped skiing. Going off to college, developing more of a social life, and increasing friction when I vacationed with my family had led to skiing less and less often, until I eventually stopped going with them. Two years ago, my brother moved to Boulder, Colorado, and started skiing out there a lot. My parents started making their ski vacations double as visiting him, so they now vacation in Vail.
Somehow, my father talked me into coming along last weekend, and I skied for the first time in, as I've said, seven years. It turns out skiing uses the muscle I talked about quite a bit. And mine had rather atrophied from seven years of little use. It hurt. A lot. Pretty constantly, reducing a bit as I took weight off the foot, getting worse more than that when I used it. A couple times the pain made it up to my hip. Not so fun.
On the other hand, I discovered that I can still ski. By the end of the third day (my second skiing), I was taking on some decently challenging runs. By the end of the fourth, I had to cut the day short because of the pain. It was a lot of fun. Now I kind of want to get back into it. I have the equipment, I have a good portion of the skill, I just need the musculature back. Which means strengthening a muscle that I don't usually use. Fun, fun.