Trying Something New

I recently sprained both my ankles doing a lead climb outdoors. It's now been over three weeks and I'm still limping around and not really able to do a lot of physical exercise. Before I sprained my ankles, I was doing at least an hour of strenuous activity a day. Not wanting to lose my fitness or put on 20kg while I recover, I started doing some basic pool recovery training. I've never been a big fan of confined water, preferring to take a swim in the big ol' blue, but having been dumped by a few too many waves lately as I sat in the shallows unable to stand up, I have had to immerse myself in the chlorine of late. So today I decided to go to my gym's pool and do an Aqua Zumba lesson. Before the injury I used to do Zumba every Monday night in a community hall with 40+ other uncoordinated ladies, so I thought Aqua Zumba would be an easy transition back into exercise.

I nervously limped to the gym where the receptionist already had a Pump card ready for me. "Not today," I said, "I'm going in the pool." Not looking away from the computer screen, the receptionist picked up the Aqua Zumba card and handed it to me. "Good luck," she mumbled as I limped off. Of course there was a gathering of budgie smuggling swimmers, showcasing their very defined six-packs congregated around the steps which I had to take one at a time to get down, all of them staring at my awkward gait.
I started seeing a bunch of older ladies gathering at the side of the pool and I thought, 'that's where I need to be.' All the ads for Zumba suggest it's a sport for young, fit, Latin ladies who know how to shake their stuff, but I've found in reality it's a much older demographic who love it. Maybe my generation is too self-conscious to get a little silly,  I don't know.
The ladies all ranged from 45 - 70 in age and were decked in the most ridiculous and awesome bikinis, trikinis, mankinis (okay, I made that one up), but there was a great deal of colour and those strange skirt/skort bathing suits with frills, that can only mean business.
The instructor was, like all Zumba instructors are, a total babe with perfect coordination. They must hire them based on their hotness and ability to make everyone trying to follow their moves feel like a beetle on its back, not even able to  find the coordination to walk.
Once we got started, the adorable Zumba instructor would casually do a series of moves we all tried (and mainly failed) to follow. Her Korean, or maybe it was Chinese, accent made every instruction a smileable moment. "Come horward," she said, pretending to drag us in on a rope. "Now side-a-ways." I was flapping around the pool, trying not to hit my ankles on anything and next thing I knew it had been 45 minutes and we were all getting out of the pool.

It was great fun trying something new. I felt nervous, completely ridiculous and way out of my depth (pun intended), but most of all I was just happy to be back, doing some exercise and feeling some endorphins rush through my body.

So when was the last time you tried something new?