So as you may know, I’ve been playing pickleball
quite a bit lately, sometimes three times a week. And if you’re envisioning me
dashing gracefully side to side and then whizzing from the net to the back of
the court – don’t.
My game is now fairly stationary; I
play close to the net as much as I can and depend on fast reflexes and a long
reach. I learned the hard way that running backwards will often guarantee that
you’ll land on your keister, or worse.
Running anywhere pretty much left my
life several years ago.
And yet, I’ve still managed to come
home with aching legs. Thinking it was all about arch support issues, I got
orthotics, which didn’t solve things completely. I finally realized I probably
just needed a new pair of sneakers, which I now need to take for a walk. Or do
I?
Do people still “break in” their
shoes? I remember as a kid, a period of band-aids on my heels before that year’s
school shoes softened up.
And another thing – I also remember
every September my father taking the beer can opener’s pointy end and
scratching up the smooth soles of my new saddle shoes to prevent me slipping.
In this world of sneakers everywhere except the shower, I guess that’s gone,
too.
