Numb

Contrary to this blog's title, sometimes it's necessary to feel  nothing at all (even if it isn't necessary, it still may happen). Just about everyone can relate to losing feeling in their hands or face in extremely cold weather. This is quite similar.

At first, you may feel some discomfort. Then the pain sets in. You may even feel a tingling in your hands and feet. Then, nothing. All feeling is gone; you're there, but if you lost sight, you wouldn't believe it.

I experienced this numbness a couple of days ago. Of course, it was also chilly outside, so not only did I experience two different kinds of pain, but also two different kinds of numb. However, numb is numb. You cannot distinguish between the numbness brought on by the cold air from that of a hard workout. Anyway, I had just finished a nice, semi-intense run with a friend. I decided to add a mile-and-a-half near-sprint to my apartment. My legs grew tired, and my hands became stiff. Soon enough, my entire body was in agony. Until it wasn't anymore. I'm not saying this is necessarily a good thing, but it certainly doesn't have to be a bad thing. When this happens, one should take advantage. Since I had no feeling, I was able to push myself harder, finishing strong instead of giving in to "good sense."

By the way, just like warming up after sitting in below-freezing temperatures at a football game, regaining feeling after a hard, numbing workout can be painful, too. Muscles feel tight and need immediate stretching; headaches are common; and your legs may become like spaghetti suddenly, even though they felt fine on the run.

For every positive, there is a negative. It's up to us to rig the scale that weighs them. 

Later