Dimensionality

 It does no-one any good to get stuck in a rut.

Even if it can be a rather scenic one

Saturday was business as usual: run down to the market in air of the sort of cold that frosts everything it touches.

Even when wrapped up in warm wool

It was -15c/5f when I left the house, but the thermometer rose nearly 10 degrees celsius by evening, which brought a snowshoe romp of transporting beauty under a bright, crisp moon.

Maybe not everyone's cup of tea, but I enjoyed it

Sunday brought a trip out to a spot I've not seen in some time - the Lions Lake Trail around Woolwich Dam & Reservoir in Floradale. It almost always seems to be a chilly, grey, windy day when I head out there for a run, and this outing was no exception.

I'm sure I've run it once in non-winter, but I can't say I recall ever seeing the sun shine there

The temperature had continued to rise through the night and was well over the melting point by the time I hit the trail, with the snowpack destabilizing underfoot as I clomped along. I didn't need spikes, but everything felt the unsure surface: ankles, knees, hips, and even lower back as I ran it counter-clockwise and then clockwise.

And by "ran" I mean "walked along eating cookies and occasionally breaking into a brief trot"

So far, so normal, right? Well, Sunday evening is when things got a little unusual..

!

I had done some searching, and found a Sunday evening "stick and puck" session at RIM Park in Waterloo. The idea is basically an open practice: you can wear full equipment (though only helmet and gloves are mandatory, and go work on your skills. Scrimmages are strongly discouraged, and I figured I could go get my gear on without too much stress. Just relax, feel the equipment a little, face a few shots, and work on some positioning and drills.

With more than 20 years since the last time I played regularly, I could definitely use it!

On to the ice I went, just barely managing not to fall on my face here and there, and after a few laps and some stretches to warm up - including my right knee doing something quite alarming the first time I dropped into butterfly - I skated over and got in the net at one end.

That, my friends, is when I learned that stick and puck is possibly the most intense experience a goalie will ever have.

Imagine facing 10 or 15 guys, all of whom have pucks and will come at you with shots one after another, wheeling around the ice once they've fired it and picking up another puck, then circling back toward centre ice and turning back in for another go. No defense, no whistles, no breaks.

I found out later that the goalie at the other end would occasionally just skate out of net for a few minutes, standing over in the corner and drinking water, or even sitting on the bench for a rest. Apparently most of the skaters (22 of them, with 2 goalies on the ice) took a breather here and there, but my dumb arse just stood there and took it. I think I managed to sneak in three 30sec breathers to gasp and chug some water, while sweating more than I believe I ever have in my life before. In 45mins on the ice I must have faced 200-250 shots: for perspective, a really busy night for an NHL goalie is 40 shots spread out over 60mins of stop-time gameplay, with commercial breaks and intermissions between 20min periods that stretch the whole game out close to 3 hours.

By the end, I was ragged.

My braid was literally dripping sweat for 15mins while I got undressed - I had to wring it out when I got into my street clothes!

To make matters even more interesting, most of my equipment is from the 90s, and while I knew about some of the vulnerable points in it..

This one is an old friend

..some of them came as a complete surprise.

Well that's new

I mean it stands to reason: even if only 1% of the pucks find spots that'll give you a stinger, with the kind of volume I had flying at me it was only natural a couple would leave a mark.

I had Monday to recuperate, by which I mean going back to strength training and running. Repeat on Tuesday, and then out to a local public school for a totally different kind of fun that evening.

Have you ever heard of goalball?

Let's assume you haven't: goalball was developed after WWII to rehabilitate veterans with visual impairments, but because everyone wears an eyeshade to completely block their vision, even fully sighted people like Tank and myself can play.

There are purpose-made eyeshades, but they're a bit pricy - Tank and I are using pairs of cheap ski goggles with fabric glued inside the lenses

Two teams of three line up on either end of a court (or a small school gymnasium) and try to hurl a ball - around the size of a basketball, but heavier, with almost no bounce, and with bells inside so it makes noise as it moves - past the opposing team.

The green lines are twine covered with tape, creating raised marks for players to orient themselves

The defending team tries to hear the ball coming, and sprawl to prevent it getting past them. 

Self preservation tends to take a back seat

What does that look like when done well?

Glen from Ontario Blind Sports and some kids from W. Ross Macdonald School for the blind ripping it up

It's a lot of fun, and more challenging than you might think to judge the trajectory of the ball, or to bowl it in the direction you want. I can only believe that it might help my goaltending as well - it can use any help it can get!

So there you have it: even in the final stretch of the 100 runs in 100 days challenge, I've managed to step outside the bounds of my usual run-and-lift-and-work playpen to have some fun in both new and old ways. There's still a bit less than 2 months of goalball season, and I'm definitely hoping to get some more ice time in over the next 9 weeks as I'm once again going to participate in the Let's Body Check Cancer hockey tournament with my company!

For lack of any other goalies among my coworkers, at least

So here's where I add my appeal: the tournament - as you may have guessed by the name - is a fundraiser for the Canadian Cancer Society, who use the money raised to fund research into cancer prevention and treatment, advocate for healthy public policies, and offer vital supports for both those living with cancer and their families. I hope you will consider making a donation via the secure site at this link to support their efforts to create a world where no-one needs to suffer from cancer. I'd be so grateful for your sponsorship, and every little bit helps!