KickBall!

Yup. The sport that we all played during recess in our elementary school days has made a come-back.
 
My buddy Jason at work has created a great group for people that want to change their ways. Basically it is a group dedicated to weight loss, with the goal of finishing the 2010 Great Race. It seems to have gone beyond that and I think its the nebulous for something very special and inspirational. www.at-our-pace.com is the groups website. He is looking to organize monthly outings for the group of a physical nature. A means of team-building and a great way to have fun and exercise. So the first event was a kick-ball game, and why not. Everyone knows how to play kickball and it doesn't take much skill, but it can kick your ass a bit. As it did to me today.

The band had a great gig last night. Lately I have been able to put allot of energy into performing due to being consistent with running. I dont tire like I used to during the second set. The problem was that I went to bed like a rock star and woke up like a farmer. 4:00am bedtime and 7:00 am awake with absolutely no chance of sleeping again. When I woke for the day the previous nights rain had not abated and was continuing and would continue throughout the day. I told myself I was playing kickball no matter what.  Eventually we grabbed some breakfast at Kostas. Well it was more like I was eating breakfast, Heather was playing with her food. You see she had a couple last night and well wasn't feeling well. Despite her best efforts she would not make the kickball game.

At 1 pm I made my way down to Clifford field. It was a pretty amazing sight. Had to be 15 or so people there, but the amazing part were the outfits. Everyone was dressed like they were taking part in a weird psychedelic experiment. Different colored socks and pants. Headbands. Tights. Jason made his own shirt complete with "Under Armer" ( yes .. his spelling ) on the neck. I felt out of place, so decided to adorn my head with my hiking bandanna. When in Rome I guess.....

We assembled teams and started to play. I haven't laughed this hard in a while. Everyone was full of it, running and sliding on the soaked field. The rain was still falling at this point and the temp was rather low but spirits were high and not one person complained about the rain. Definitely my type of group.

I was rather amazed how much effort went into playing. Playing the outfield, I ran for quite a few of the long balls, especially when Jason was up to the plate. You see when we do our daily runs, we run in a straight line most of the time, at a controlled pace for a set amount of time. When you tell someone that you are a runner they think you are automatically in great shape. Sure you have better lung capacity then non-cardio types, but as far as being an athlete, in my opinion it doesn't qualify. Playing today proved to me that I need to get more variety in my workouts. My legs were screaming from the fast sprints around the bases and in the outfield. Part of this may be due to last nights gigs and the jumping and "rock-star" lunges, who knows. What I do know is that I am sitting here quite sore, yet happy that I could participate in a team sport.

The next outing for the group will be paintball. I have wanted to play this for years, but never made any effort to assemble a group. For the next month Ill be watching Chuck Norris and Steven Seagal movies for pointers.