Wednesday, December 14, 2016

Run

It was snowy and mucky out and as Joe parked the car I asked him if he'd push me into the mall so that my gloves didn't get wet. I know, I know my tires would be wet, but what wheelchair user doesn't know how to roll back and forth on welcome carpeting in order to dry off tires. You see, I had a plan.

When we are on the road, I get a lot of opportunity to push myself in my wheelchair. I've worked steadfastly over the last several months to get my strength up so that I could do it myself. I was worried that I'd loose that strength over the holidays. I've learned that the muscle groups you use to lift weights don't correspond exactly to those you use to push a wheelchair, or at least to push someone of my weight in a wheelchair.

We were to meet friends for lunch and we'd arranged to get there about an hour early so I could give myself a good hour of hard pushing. I was anxious to see if I still had the strength and endurance to do distance pushing, which is, for me, the hardest, even harder than going up a short grade or a curb cut. We were set.

Joe got my chair out and I got in it but instead of waiting for him to get everything else ready, I decided to push only on the outer rim and head towards the mall. We got the last disabled parking bay, the furthest of them from the mall, so it was a fair piece but I headed off anyways. It wasn't steep, but it was a steady grade up and I found my muscles settling into the push and buy the time Joe joined my I was puffing but refused his help. I knew I could easily make it in.

Then we oriented ourselves and headed off. There were a few things to shop for and Joe went to do that as I marathoned it around the mall. Now this is marathon for me not marathon for anyone else. I got up a good speed and luckily there enough stretches that I wasn't endangering myself or anyone else. I did have to steer around fellow shoppers but I managed that.

Of course, there was the occasional jerk in the mall, by the time I turned a corner and headed north, I saw that the next big turn was located by a Tim Hortons. I was motoring by this time, and frankly, had worked up a real sweat. A fellow coming towards me, must have seen the work I was putting in and said, "That doughnut sure has you in a hurry." Well, Ha Freaking Ha. I didn't say anything, not because I couldn't think of anything but because I wasn't there to do anything for anyone but myself. I was there to work my arms and keep my strength up.

I made it more than half way round the mall in about half an hour. It's a big mall. I felt good about it. But it was time to turn around and head to meet our friends for lunch. Joe was buying something so I headed off by myself knowing we'd meet up at the food court.

When we got in the car after lunch I said to Joe that I'd felt like I'd gone on my first run since being disabled. I didn't know that you could run in a wheelchair. But you can.

I just did it.

7 comments:

Unknown said...

WOW....you make getting hot and sweaty sound like a good thing...and I can imagine you hustling right along in your chair, smoothly maneuvering around obstacles and not missing a beat when someone flung some crap at you....a man on a mission!!
so maybe this exercise thing is a good thing.....thinking on that one. thanks, Dave.
Clairesmum

ABEhrhardt said...

You have no idea how much I envy you!

Namaste said...

Thanks for reminding me that silence is the best answer. a kind gentleman stopped in the middle of the intersection to open his window in -7 to let me know that he couldn't miss seeing me in the intersection because of my size. I told him "f you" but now I wish I hadn't given him the satisfaction of being heard. Next time.

Namaste said...

Thanks for reminding me that silence is the best answer. a kind gentleman stopped in the middle of the intersection to open his window in -7 to let me know that he couldn't miss seeing me in the intersection because of my size. I told him "f you" but now I wish I hadn't given him the satisfaction of being heard. Next time.

Ron Arnold said...

That's awesome! I would imagine there is a lot of back / chest involved with pushing too - not just triceps. There is a fellow that rides his wheelchair on a bike trail I use to commute back and forth to work. Every time I see him - he is exerting some serious effort pushing. He's sweaty, grimacing, and rolling along at a great clip! Definitley out for a run. (He's got a fairly sporty wheelchair - the kind with the wheels cambered in at the top.)

That's cool you got to go for a run! I hope you can do that fairly often. It's gotta feel pretty darn good. Even the bit of sore that might come afterward. Cuz that kind of sore is the good kind. =)

Celine said...

What a workout! Good for you. Keep this up and you'll be signing up for wheelchair races in no time.

Unknown said...

You can also dance in a wheelchair, just because you are sitting doesn't mean that you can't do things that other people do.