So, It’s pretty clear to anyone who spends more than five minutes with me that I’m not exactly athletic. At six feet tall and a little over 250 pounds, I’ve never been one for physical activity. Yet after spending almost 6 months in a hospital bed before moving into a wheelchair, I’ve been dying to get back into the one sport I like playing, disc golf.

For those who haven’t heard of it, disc golf is a lot like regular golf, but different enough to seem strange to those unfamiliar with it. Instead of balls and clubs you have discs. Instead of holes there are baskets. Confusing? I promise it’s not.

Players start at a tee pad much like they do in golf, but instead of trying to hit a ball into a hole you’re throwing a specially designed frisbee into a basket. Whereas normal holes in golf average a distance of 300-400 yards, or about three football fields long, disc golf holes are usually less than 300 feet from tee to basket. Which makes sense, considering it’s really hard to throw anything more than a few hundred feet, even if professional disc golfers can throw up to 600 feet regularly.

I am not a professional … I’m lucky when I can throw a disc 200 feet, if I’ve ever even successfully done that. Which, I’m not sure I have.

Honestly, with my legs still healing after breaking both in a car accident last August, I’ve found that getting back into the sport is even harder than I expected. Where once a game of disc golf was a wonderful way to take a long hike in the woods while actively having something to do, now every step is a chore.

I have had to learn to throw the disc without stepping to gain momentum for fear that I’ll twist an ankle or damage my still healing knee. Eight months ago I was only a few steps behind the more athletic of my friends when we played. Now I can’t even complete an 18-hole course in one go.

That hasn’t changed my love of the game though. In his excitement for my ability to start playing again, my boyfriend bought me a new putter. Yes, there are still putters and drivers in disc golf. The different discs are designed to take advantage of different aerodynamic principles to change their flight patterns.

Excitedly we headed over to Slater Park in Pawtucket. They have a nine-hole course that makes for a nice walk through the park. We had only just finished hole 3 when it became clear that my legs were struggling.

I wanted so badly to push it, to keep walking and to take back a piece of my life that I lost last year, but I couldn’t. Knowing that the first three holes of the course take up less than a third of its total walking distance took some of the wind from my sails. This wouldn’t be my chance to finish a game of disc golf for the first time in 8 months, but it was still a positive show of improvement and healing.

We’ve hit the same course a few times since; creating our own practice loop out of the first three holes and a strategically parked car. Each time we’ve gone it has been a little easier. I get a little further before my legs start to complain. It may take a while, but I’m confident I’ll catch back up to where I used to be. Eventually …