Ow
So, last Thursday we had our ALIT (Arctic Light Individual Training). It consisted of snowshoeing up the local ski hill, building a snow shelter, attempting to play football in poor light conditions, and then trying to sleep in said shelter.
Not having snowshoed before (I just got issued them last Wednesday) I didn't really know what to expect, what the route would be like, etc etc. And, of course, there would be plenty of muscles used that I have never used before. Furthermore, I was wearing boots that I wasn't used to wearing, that I think were a touch big, so that one of my socks worked its way nearly off my foot. Got blisters on the balls of both feet, the larger one about the size of a quarter. And lots of sore muscles.
Then, when we got almost to the top of the hill, we pulled off into a little area where one of the guys in my company was reenlisting. As I was pulling off, I tripped over my snowshoes (for about the 100th time on the way up) and fell. And put my arms out in front of me to make it slightly gentler, and jarred my left shoulder a bit. Friday I could barely lift my arm past vertical.
Then we built our little shelters. Having not done it before, I didn't know that we had to compensate for how much the snow would cave in the ponchos that were serving as the roof, shrinking the shelter. So me and the person I was sharing a shelter with were curled up into little balls as we tried to sleep. One heck of a crick in the neck, let me tell you (and lots of notes for the next time I have to do this).
And the football game? Full contact (we have some exceptionally puffy cold weather gear) and I ended up with a black eye. Ish. It actually looks more like I have some dark pink eyeliner on half of one eye - as pointed out by someone who didn't realize it was a bruise, but actually thought I was wearing makeup. On half of one eye. *shakes head* One of my troops ended up getting squished by someone about twice her size (literally, he's a big guy) and got some bruising in the chest - nothing broke. Trust me, I had to haul her to the hospital the next day cuz she could hardly breathe normal.
For me, the blisters have healed up, and the muscles aren't sore (well, I still have a bit of a crick in the neck) and the shoulder usually hurts anyway... and I still have my eyeliner. Go figure.
In other news, here are some examples of why it is not a good idea to let me run loose in a craft store. I start getting crazy ideas, like why not turn glass bottles into vases to hold fake flower arrangements, and woodburning looks like fun!
My long and short stitch obviously needs work on that second one.
Amanda on 12.14.09 @ 09:04 PM AKDT [link]