There are points in your childhood where you realize you’re growing up. Graduations, sitting at the adult table, getting socks for Christmas; those all fall under that umbrella of “growing up”, but what I’m here to talk about is noticing that you’ve become an adult, and your body is beginning to crumble.
For many, their first moment may be them noticing their metabolism slowing down, or a gut starting to form, or something as simple as going to bed early to “get some shuteye”, but for me, it was something completely different.
Frequent A2Z Sports readers may have noticed that last week was our first week off in the site’s history. I thought that my co-writer Jack and I had earned a break after pumping out five articles a week for nearly 11 months, and with family time consuming all hours of Thanksgiving week, it seemed like the perfect time to take some time off. Now, when it comes to family time and family activities, the only thing that my three brothers and I do is golf. So for nine straight days, I golfed 17 holes a day (one hole was under repair).
Now where am I going with this? No, I’m not trying to rub it in your face that I was in a warm enough climate to golf for nine straight days at the end of November, and no, I am not a good golfer. What I am trying to get at here is that my back has never felt worse. Ever. This was my first moment of realization that my body has started to deteriorate.
I’m sure that some of you reading this had a moment in your childhood when you were swinging for the fences on a tee box, and an older fellow said a comment along the lines of “wow, to be flexible like that again”, or “It hurts my back just watching that swing”, and you probably just laughed it off and walked away like I did. This past week was the first time where I understood where they were coming from, and I was not laughing anymore. By day four, I had a knot in my back that felt like it was about to crack, but never did. By day six, that knot was seriously restricting my swing, and only after about six drinks was I able to unleash a nuke of a drive. By day 9, the sad day of my departure, that knot grew so uncomfortable that I was unable to get any sleep on my redeye flight back to Colorado. Thanks, Obama.
To add insult to injury (literally), I have now started stretching in the mornings to lessen this pain, and no stretches are more demeaning than those designed for the lower back. Remember Chargers head coach Brandon Staley’s warm up routine that was leaked on MNF last season?
Yup, that’s me on my bedroom floor every morning now, and for the rest of my life. But hey, if cat-cowing every morning means I’ll be able to drive the ball 350 again, I’m all in.
I just wonder if the greats like Tiger Woods had this level of dedication.