Ouch! That really hurt!

Earlier today I suggested that I had a successful running day, logging 6 miles on the treadmill, and that I was contemplating another run to blow off some first-day-of-class stress.

Well, I solved the problem of pre-teaching jitters all right.

My husband and I decided to take an evening walk on the beach. Beautiful white sand. A nice breeze. The perfect way to relax before a hectic week begins. And walking is an excellent form of active recovery.

But just when all was going well, a jellyfish attacked! (My apologies for the grainy cell-phone photo. It's the best I could do under the circumstances.)

The worst part of the whole incident is that in high-tailing it back across the sand to the showers, my calf started cramping. I get muscle spasms all the time, but this is like nothing I've ever felt before. Part of me wants to think it's just because I ran this morning, and my legs aren't used to a half mile sprint across soft sand... The other part of me wants to think I'm tougher than that, and that it's an effect of the sting.

Which one is worse, I wonder: Cramping up after a walk to the point where my left leg doesn't want to hold my weight? Or cramping up from jellyfish venom? The former implies that I'm becoming a wuss, the latter that a jellyfish is trying to kill me.

Well, no matter what happens in class tomorrow, it's likely to be a lot more pleasant than this!