Saturday, my husband and I took three of our four boys snowboarding/skiing. I was feeling pretty good so I dusted the cobwebs off my snowboard and off we went. (My husband and three of my four boys snowboard, my oldest son skis and I can do both.)
I took up snowboarding late last season so I was looking forward to refreshing my memory of just how sore a body can get after four hours on it. I was not disappointed. Actually, I (and hubby said so, too) did much better than I thought I would and had a GREAT time! (Hunter, my ten-year old and I stayed on the bunny hills while my husband and two boys went to the difficult hills.)
Snowboarding is really not as easy as it looks; just in case you ever thought it did. It is quite literally a balancing act. If you lean too far forward (dig your toes in) or too far back (dig your heels in) and you'll fall in that particular direction. And to add insult to injury, whichever body part hurts the worst is inevitably the part of your body that you will land on. Last season it was my right hip/buttock and tailbone. I sported a huge dark purple bruise long after the season ended. I had to cancel modeling in two fashion shows because I could barely walk!
Hunter and I headed to the smallest bunny hill first. There is a "magic carpet" (it's like a people mover in some airports, you just stand on it) that gets you to the top of the hill so we hopped on. At the top of the hill we sat down to strap our boards on. Once we were strapped in it was time to flip our boards and our bodies over so we are laying face down on the hill. From there you dig the toe edge of the board in the snow and stand up. With a couple little hip shimmies I got the board moving. I had nice balance and was still standing when I reached the bottom. So far so good. I took one more ride down the ultra-baby-bunny hill and Hunter and I moved to the next larger (but still a bunny) hill. The cool thing about this is the magic carpet goes much further than the other hill so we will have a longer ride down.
So Hunter and I get to the top of the next hill, strap our feet to the boards and off we go. I wasn't doing anything fancy yet. I'm still a little nervous about getting my left shoulder (where the VNS device is) jerked too far backward if I were to fall. There is only so much electrical cord between the device and the vagus nerve in my neck and I don't want to jerk anything loose.
Hunter and kept with the easy stuff for a little while and when my husband showed up to check on us I wanted him to help me turn around. Up until this point I had been going down the hill either on my toes (toes dug in, facing up the hill) or with my left foot pointed down the hill. Last year I started to learn how to turn around so I can dig in my heels and slide facing down hill. I was ready for my husband to guide me through trying it again.
It's tricky to do because you left foot point the board down the hill. With the right foot, you dig the toe edge of the board in then, while starting down the hill, you dig your heel edge in and pop your right foot around. So far so good. Except the second time I tried that I turned all the way around so I was facing back up the hill and I.fell.flat.on.my.face. Thus resulting in "snow rash". I fell pretty hard smacking my nose and chin on the snow. I immediately cupped snow in my hands and put it up to my face. When I removed it there was blood. I thought it was from my nose but it wasn't. It was from my lower lip and chin. Nothing serious or broken just some pretty abrasions and a little bruising. I had the Ski Patrol put a couple of band aids on my wounds and I went back to snowboarding.
I currently the only member of my family to draw blood while snowboarding.
My boys think I'm cool. :-)
I woke up Sunday morning and every last muscle in my body was rebelling at any movement whatsoever. Even my toes hurt!
I took up snowboarding late last season so I was looking forward to refreshing my memory of just how sore a body can get after four hours on it. I was not disappointed. Actually, I (and hubby said so, too) did much better than I thought I would and had a GREAT time! (Hunter, my ten-year old and I stayed on the bunny hills while my husband and two boys went to the difficult hills.)
Snowboarding is really not as easy as it looks; just in case you ever thought it did. It is quite literally a balancing act. If you lean too far forward (dig your toes in) or too far back (dig your heels in) and you'll fall in that particular direction. And to add insult to injury, whichever body part hurts the worst is inevitably the part of your body that you will land on. Last season it was my right hip/buttock and tailbone. I sported a huge dark purple bruise long after the season ended. I had to cancel modeling in two fashion shows because I could barely walk!
Hunter and I headed to the smallest bunny hill first. There is a "magic carpet" (it's like a people mover in some airports, you just stand on it) that gets you to the top of the hill so we hopped on. At the top of the hill we sat down to strap our boards on. Once we were strapped in it was time to flip our boards and our bodies over so we are laying face down on the hill. From there you dig the toe edge of the board in the snow and stand up. With a couple little hip shimmies I got the board moving. I had nice balance and was still standing when I reached the bottom. So far so good. I took one more ride down the ultra-baby-bunny hill and Hunter and I moved to the next larger (but still a bunny) hill. The cool thing about this is the magic carpet goes much further than the other hill so we will have a longer ride down.
So Hunter and I get to the top of the next hill, strap our feet to the boards and off we go. I wasn't doing anything fancy yet. I'm still a little nervous about getting my left shoulder (where the VNS device is) jerked too far backward if I were to fall. There is only so much electrical cord between the device and the vagus nerve in my neck and I don't want to jerk anything loose.
Hunter and kept with the easy stuff for a little while and when my husband showed up to check on us I wanted him to help me turn around. Up until this point I had been going down the hill either on my toes (toes dug in, facing up the hill) or with my left foot pointed down the hill. Last year I started to learn how to turn around so I can dig in my heels and slide facing down hill. I was ready for my husband to guide me through trying it again.
It's tricky to do because you left foot point the board down the hill. With the right foot, you dig the toe edge of the board in then, while starting down the hill, you dig your heel edge in and pop your right foot around. So far so good. Except the second time I tried that I turned all the way around so I was facing back up the hill and I.fell.flat.on.my.face. Thus resulting in "snow rash". I fell pretty hard smacking my nose and chin on the snow. I immediately cupped snow in my hands and put it up to my face. When I removed it there was blood. I thought it was from my nose but it wasn't. It was from my lower lip and chin. Nothing serious or broken just some pretty abrasions and a little bruising. I had the Ski Patrol put a couple of band aids on my wounds and I went back to snowboarding.
I currently the only member of my family to draw blood while snowboarding.
My boys think I'm cool. :-)
I woke up Sunday morning and every last muscle in my body was rebelling at any movement whatsoever. Even my toes hurt!
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