Some friends and I went skiing up at Cascade Mountain this weekend, which is probably the best place to go skiing near Chicago.  Twas a lot of fun.  The weather was perfect.  The slopes were mostly ice-free.  The company was excellent.  I got in a few really fun runs including one where I went faster than I was comfortable with, but still managed to not wipe out.  I only fell twice in total.  Once when I accidentally clipped my skis together when turning (my boots weren’t tightened enough) and once when I went down this sudden and deceptively big dip with my weight well forward (I was stupid). Every time I go skiing, I wish that I could go more often.  Why couldn’t there be a mountain within easy driving distance of Chicago?  Stupid tectonic plates!

The best part about skiing infrequently is the sore muscles the day after (Ok, two days after.  I’m getting old).  There’s just something extremely satisfying about sore muscles after physical exertion.  It’s almost like a sense of accomplishment.  There’s that softly screaming pain getting up after sitting still in the same position for a period of time. There’s that dull pain after every movement.  After a physical exertion like skiing there’s also always that one muscle that aches louder and longer than any of the others.  This time it’s the upper portion of my right calf muscle.  I almost collapse under my own weight when I first stand to walk.  It’s a sharper ache than all the others and it takes longer for the muscle to work its way back into functionality.  This likely explains why I was having knee issues on my right leg near the end of the day.

I would exercise all the time if the sore muscles didn’t eventually go away with too much exercise.  If only there were a way to bottle that feeling…