The Great Outdoors

While I'm just waiting for the demise of this Twilight Zone-ishly beautiful summer weather we're having in the middle of March, I'm still confident that outdoor running season has commenced (barring the 6 feet of snow we'll get smacked with on April first, I'm sure). Last weekend I went on one of my longer outdoor runs in the surrounding neighborhoods. I didn't intend it to be as long as it was, but whoever planned out the neighborhood streets around here must have been drunk at the time because they are anything but straight. I ended up literally running in a circle through a subdivision I had intended to just cut across.

6 miles and it felt good, but tiring. The addition of hills and pounding pavement added some stress to the body. I've found myself in a slump again this week, not feeling energized enough to run more than a few miles, even in this heavenly weather.

Speaking of the heavenly weather, there's nothing like 70's/80's and incredible sunshine to lift the winter blues. I'm channeling the recent Office episode where Toby pleaded sympathy for his severe case of seasonal depression, and Andy and Dwight mocked him, saying: "Right, Toby. As if everyone isn't experiencing the same winter as you." I'm with Toby; I'm an honest-to-goodness victim of the winter blues who just views the world in a slightly sunnier way when it's...sunnier. Considering the especially miserable winter I went into this year, and the healing passage of time leading into spring, it's all chocking up to be a fantastic time to be alive.

Song of Solomon 2:11 For behold, the winter is past, The rain is over and gone. ¹² ‘The flowers have already appeared in the land...":

All In-Shape-ness is not created equal...

A day after my new longest run to-date (8 miles and counting!), I planned on a low-key workout for my Sunday afternoon. That was before I was approached by my friend, Christi, at church and asked to sub in on her ladies intramural basketball team since they were down a few players. I was a little terrified to accept at first since I'm just a TAD rusty at the game. I mean, it has been 11 years since I warmed the bench on the JV high school team (ahem). But, Christi assured me that there were women with even less experience than I on the opponent team, so I enthusiastically accepted the mission.

The first couple of minutes of the game were positively terrifying as I dusted the cobwebs off my game experience. Where did I stand for the tip-off or at the free-throw line? It didn't that I hadn't actually experienced probably more than 5 minutes of game play in my entire last JV year. Thankfully I didn't have to do much to keep the team afloat but pass the ball to the much more capable regulars on the team who sank shot after shot to dominate the other team. As the game progressed, I gained some confidence and by the end I was left hungry to play some more. It was a pretty healing experience seeing as I left the game in high school having lost all confidence in my abilities and paralyzed by fear at making a mistake. This time around, I didn't have to worry about getting pulled for making a mistake, and my team mates were a lot more encouraging than 15-year-olds, I have to say.

The only unpleasant experience of it all was this realization: I'm out of shape. What? Megan, you're running 8 miles in a row! I would say you're in shape! Well, yeah, I've definitely got endurance running going for me right now. But it's been so long since I've played a sport, I failed to recall that being in shape to run does not translate to the game of basketball. There were a couple times there in the first few minutes of scrimmage that I thought I was going to lose my lunch; I went through two water bottles in 40 minutes. It wasn't until the end of the game that I finally started catching my breath.

Then there was the beginning of the week to remind my body what a weakling it is. I could barely walk Monday and Tuesday, let alone get in any more running. I remember Tuesday jogging determinedly out of my house into the lovely warm air and sputtering down to a walk by the time I reached the end of the block. I've been in need of serious recuperation after one measly basketball game.

I wonder if I'll get the chance to play anymore ball before the half. I think if I could 40 minutes straight of basketball without having to sub out three times for fatigue, I'd be fit enough to do about anything.