I love running! I started in 2002 at the age of 47 and until eight months ago, was still going strong. Then I had a pain in my lower abdomen and had to stop. The diagnosis? A hernia.
Well, in the current health-care climate, a hernia is not a quick fix. My doctor sent in a request for an assessment by the surgeon and I’m still waiting for the date. My running schedule was suddenly in the garbage can so what was my Plan B? I started walking, but was looking for something to get my heartrate up. The answer? Biking.
Checking in a dark corner at the back of my garage, I found my road bike. It has been a while since it saw the light of day, but after pumping up the tires and oiling the chain, it was ready to go. My plan was to complete the “Horse Creek Loop” over the summer months. The route took me from my home, across the tracks, up Horse Creek Road South to Highway 1A. Then west to Grand Valley Road, north to Range Road 280, east to Horse Creek Road, and finally south back to the 1A. This was my old marathon route and in total comes out to 45 kilometres. Summer came and went and by Oct. 31, I had completed 41 Horse Creek loops for a total of 2,039 kilometres.
As mentioned in a previous column, the other physical activity I started to get back into recently was swimming. Heading down to Spray Lake Sawmills Family Sports Centre, I was keen to get back in the lap pool.
The problem was sometimes there were no lanes available. Time for Plan B!
Instead of heading home and complaining that there were no lanes, I took a sharp right and went into the warm water therapy pool. There I used the foam dumb-bells, swimming against the jets and aqua-yoga (make sure you take a breath). I read up on how beneficial warm water therapy exercise is and decided to turn my hot tub into a warm water therapy tub. I hear you ask “was that complicated to do?” The answer? No. I just turned down the temperature from 105 F to 95 F and voila, I now have a warm water therapy tub.
There you have it. Sometimes things don’t work out so don’t stress out, just look for a Plan B. It may end up being better than your Plan A.
© 2022 Martin Parnell
