Saturday was my debut effort at snowboarding. I took a "First Timer" lesson w/ the kids, and I'm so glad that I did. It's a little bit less embarrassing to fall on your ass every 20 seconds when everyone around you is doing the same thing. In general, I enjoyed it and seemed to get the hang of it pretty well, but what the f*@! is up with getting back on your feet while facing downhill? Apparently I have negative ab muscles, because I just couldn't do it. I kept having to flip over onto my belly like some gigantic mermaid so that I could get to my knees and then right myself.

I persevered and made it through one complete lesson. I do want to try again, but will definitely be wearing knee pads next time, maybe even wrist guards. I know now why people train for ski season. Every muscle in my entire body aches. I came home from the mountain and immediately fell asleep on my living room floor. When I got up, I drew the hottest bath I could stand, and soaked for a half an hour, continually refilling the bathtub with hot water. I thought that might help with what I was sure would be agony the next day - WRONG! Yesterday was a long series of crawls from room to room, complete with whimpers. Just sitting down on the couch was murder on my belly. So, what do you do when you're in that much pain?

Drink lots and lots of wine
Try not to move from the couch (except to get another bottle of wine)
Try to figure out which pain killer can be taken with wine
Stay up too late because you don't want to move from the couch
Get up early the next morning and go to the gym

Yeah, that last one makes me laugh, too, but that's what I did. It's my husband's influence. He said since I was already in pain, I might as well go work out, then I wouldn't notice being sore after my workout. He's a prince like that.