Getting old...

Maybe it's because my birthday is around the corner, or maybe it's because my feet are all taped up just like my Grandma's were, but I am feeling old! It all started a couple of weeks ago when my sister-in-law Jesse asked me to play on her soccer team. They were hoping to add a couple of substitutes so I thought I would help out. I figured I was in good enough shape and a little friendly competition on the field never hurt anyone, right? Wrong.

Let's start with game #1. Not only did we not have any substitutes, we were a player short! Five of us against a team with eight. Not good. By the time we hit half-time, I thought my lungs were going to explode. It's sad to say, but every time they scored in the second half (which they did 3 times!), I was actually glad simply because it meant we got to rest for a second as we set up to start over. Pathetic! It didn't help that the girls we were playing were pretty dang good. I was thinking to myself, I haven't played soccer since 9th grade and here I am going up against girls using their heads to get the ball downfield-not my kind of game.

By game #2, which came immediately after game #1, I was done. How could I endure anymore of this? Fortunately I didn't have to. A couple of girls from another team must have felt sorry for us and offered to play and two other team members came-hallelujah. At least now we had subs and that made a huge difference. Too, I had the best little cheerleader ever which really kept my spirits up. Capri would yell for me every 5 minutes until I looked over, waved, and then she would wave back. So cute. I had always played half-back or forward growing up, but I tried out playing defense and had a great time. It can be fun to take out all of your stress and aggression on someone in trying to get that ball. I took a few hits for the team, one leading to an insane bruise and cleat indents on the knee, but it seems worth it when they don't get a chance to score. I will always remember my dad screaming "CHARGE!" to motivate us to do this very thing, but when you are 8 years old, talking to your friends is so much more fun-Nicole, I need that footage!Anyway, we still lost 0-1 and I was wishing I had my soccer pals, Erika and Julie, with me to make it a win. Girls, didn't we have so much fun freshman year?!

The big bummer of the day, however, was the fact that I really screwed up my feet. (You are all thinking how I am getting back to my point of getting old and here it is...) I have always relied on orthotics to prevent pain in my arches, achilles and bunnions, and they have worked great. Unfortunately, I didn't wear them that day because my cleats I borrowed were already too small and I didn't want to make them smaller by using my orthotics. Bad idea. I was limping like an eighty year-old for the next week and to compensate, ended up hurting my knee as well. Nice. So, now I have ankle booties of tape that I get to wear for the next week. I have had them taped for a day and already want to rip it all off! I am also seriously bummed because I can't exercise at all, let alone race in the upcoming 10k planned for the 24th of July. Hopefully I will get going soon so wish me luck!

Our team, the Hot Tomales, getting a pep talk for game #2:

Not the greatest quality, as my dad took these pics with his phone, but here I go:

Here I am actually near a ball!