Tales of the evil orange plastic ball

Have you ever been friends with a non-runner and seen the looks they give you when you tell them about the kilometres you’ve logged, the pain you’ve endured, the crazy things you’ve done to continue in your love of this amazing sport?

I have, every day.

My husband is one of those non-runners who view us runners as weird – and probably rightfully so. I mean, seriously, how many of you can honestly say that you haven’t done something so crazy, so oddball, so totally whacked out just for this sport?

I can’t.

Today, I plopped my buttocks atop the “evil orange plastic ball,” otherwise known as a road-hockey ball, and rolled around on it for three minutes – all in the name of running. I noticed the other day, in yoga, that my hips were out of alignment again (I kid you not, my left leg is like a big toe shorter than my right) which explains the excrutiating pain in my rear.

Hello tight piriformis, I so have not missed you.

So, in comes the road hockey ball, which I read is supposed to help loosen the tightness up (tennis balls and lacrosse balls are apparently also good tools) Now, for those of you who are unfamiliar with road hockey balls, they are hard, practically rock hard, so hard I’ve seen Mario’s limbs turn almost black after being hit by one in road hockey. And to quote him, “that mother [insert choice word here] hurts!”

And so rolling around on one, when your butt is already in pain, is not exactly the most comfortable, nor sane, thing to be doing. I was grimacing and cursing and holding my breath the whole time. And I’m pretty sure, had someone walked in on me, they either would have burst out laughing, or would have turned and walked away as fast as they could thinking oh geez, that girl should so be locked up in a rubber room with her rubber ball.

And yet, the road hockey ball isn’t the craziest thing I’ve done … stay tuned for my review of the Vibram 5 fingers, often mistaken as costume stolen from the Waterworld set.

What’s the weirdest thing you’ve done?