Murphy's Law and Sods Law - the only constants

Morning Mugs,

Last year I had an ankle operation to repair what was basically a completely buggered ankle where the ligament 'weren't attached to anything'.....the consultants words , not mine. It followed a bad fall in 2016 which took an already slightly dodgy ankle past the point of no natural healing return. The operation was in June and the prognosis was '100% recovery after suitable convalescence' which means about now I can start to run or indulge in sports. 

I am not a runner but appreciate the benefits of light jogging so bought a treadmill and decided to use the Couch to 5k app from Public Health England. I am never going to be a rod runner because of the possibility of having to talk to people or more pertinently the likelihood of potholes or uneven paving slabs. I'm not risking my ankle on those shit surfaces. 

A few weeks back, our local Sports and Community Centre decided to trial 'walking football'. This pricked up my ears. I'm 57 now and the days of being able to play any football at any 'normal' pace are long gone. A few mates of mine from years ago joined up so In decided to sign up as well. 

But then.......at Christmas, as my confidence in the ankle was reaching its peak....shingles struck, and all fitness plans are put on hold. In the last few years I've had shoulder problems, ankle problems, intercostal muscle tears, gout, kidney stones, an ankle operation and then shingles. 

But yesterday, well from Monday actually, things felt OK. Out of the woods it seemed. I've done two sessions on the treadmill with the app and survived. I'm getting my walking mojo back as well with slightly lighter evenings. Yesterday was the first day at walking football. I walked to the centre a few hours after a successful treadmill session. I introduced myself to some of the guys and went through the warm up and stretches. Even then I felt a little concern that the stretches were a bit light. 20 minutes in and I stretch for the ball and turn....TWANG........pain in the back of the thigh and buttock. Quite a strong pain...the sort that would stop anyone. This meant one thing......Hamstring pulled. I played on but couldn't do much. In the second half I went in goal and did OK considering how crocked I was I did OK. 

But, today it's tight and painful...it isn't a serious one, but against all my instincts I'm being quite positive about it, viewing it a setback and not anything more sinister. It's no master pan to prevent me getting fitter...I hope. But it is an example of the one constant that plagues us all, and plagues us more as we get older. If it can go wrong, then it will go wrong! 

Sods Law. The extended version of Murphy's Law. Sods Law states that if it can go wrong, then it will go wrong...but with the worst possible outcome. Right now I am realising it might just be Murphys law in my case. Had this been a hamstring tear, then that is a lot worse as at least I can walk..albeit rather gingerly. 

The worst thing about both? The older we get the more we expect either to happen, but even knowing that, we're still never fully prepared for them. 

Later Mugs, GJ