stuff is cool

Probably against the wishes of my doctor (since I’m only in week 3 of a prescribed 4-week rehab stint), I went to play pick-up ultimate last night. I had actually considered playing in a tournament this past weekend, but thought better of it since I didn’t want to have to take myself out early and leave the team essentially down a player. However, I figured that pick-up would be a better alternative because I could stop playing at any time should I feel the need to, and the intensity is reduced. Basically, it gave me the flexibility to go at whatever speed I felt comfortable with.

Good news: my right shoulder feels fantastic. I played at about a 90% clip most of the time and felt great. I got a little winded early on because I haven’t been working on sprints/short distance running, but luckily the running I’ve been doing gave me the endurance I needed to last the full two hours or so. My hope was that getting some playing in might actually help condition my shoulder(s) a bit and strengthen them, and it seems to have worked. In fact, after pick-up my shoulders both felt as good as they ever have since I injured them. Now that it’s the next day and I’m not feeling sore or anything, I’m pretty confident that not only will I not need surgery, but that I might even be playing competitively in another two weeks (I’m still waiting for my doctor’s visit next Wednesday before playing again full time).

The only bad thing to come out of last night’s experiment? A quarter-sized blister on my big toe from not having run in my cleats for a month and a half. DOH!