Ode to Curling

Curling, oh curling!
My heart pines for thee.
Between the lines that mark
    out of boundaries,
Your pebbled ice beckons me.
Alas!  It pains me so, and
    twists me up in knots;
So much that my life suffers
too much, and so:
I must leave you be;
and save me.
Fare~thee~well, oh curling.
We were not meant to be.

Looking back over the past two winters, I think I have made a strong case for myself that curling is a detriment to all my other activities.  There's just something about moving around on ice in bad shoes that doesn't jive with my body.  Maybe it's that too many tiny muscles become fatigued leaving me prone to injury?  Or that the lack of sleep due to the late night draw times and early bus schedules has me teetering on the edge of exhaustion far too often?  I think that taking away the non-linear act of constantly coming out of the hack from one side combined with the twisting motion of sweeping the stone (I realize now I never did write that primmer on what curling is! ...um, google it?!?!) will allow my body to stay straighter and thus less prone to injury when I do go out for a run. Also, if I can get back on top of my sleep needs I will be in better shape to go out for a quality run.

In any case, I feel it's time to give it up for a while and see where my body settles to.  If I can run with out injury after excluding curling from my life, then the point will be valid. 

This decision comes almost at the right time.... the regular season is ending now. I wish it had truly ended last week (when I gave up), but there's nothing really left that won't be too painful for me to not take part in.  Curling was there before me, and shall remain after me.  Viva Curling!