The Wrong Shoes

Those of you who know my wardrobe well enough, or just have a thing for tennis shoes, will note that the shoes on my feet in this picture are my tennis shoes. And when I say tennis shoes, I don't mean that in a generic sense - I mean that they are the court shoes I wear when playing tennis. Those of you who both play tennis and run will be aware of the differences in feel of tennis shoes and running shoes - for those of you who are not, tennis shoes tend to be stiffer and heavier than running shoes, since they are built to support you as you move from side to side with quick stop and go motions - and you would probably not voluntarily wear the former while doing the latter or vice versa. But that is exactly what I did this morning.

This morning my training plan had me scheduled for a session of interval torture - 10 minutes of warm up followed by 8 speed intervals with cool downs in between, followed by a 10 minute cool down. Not my favorite workout, but slightly better than hill repeats, since at least the intervals are flat. Anyway, throughout that 10 minute warm up, something just felt off, but I was listening to my book (The Obelisk Gate by N.K. Jemisin  - you should totally follow that link and read the first book in the series and then come back to this one) so I wasn't really paying too much attention. I just chalked it up to my cold and 3C (cat, chinchilla, child) caused lack of sleep. It wasn't until I was partway through my second interval that I looked down and my shoes and said "Hey, those are my f*%^ing tennis shoes!"

I was sort of surprised I hadn't noticed when I was trying to tie my laces, because that took longer than normal, thanks to Sabetha's interference. I guess I was more focused on stopping her attacks on the laces and my fingers to notice that they were the wrong shoes. I should also have noticed that my Road ID was not on the laces, but I didn't notice that either.

I don't think I did any lasting damage to my shoes or my feet, but I am totally going to use the shoes as an excuse for why my intervals weren't faster!

Why does the early morning have to be so early?

After a couple of weeks when I barely made it out of bed or off the couch and another week where I get around, but with much coughing and wheezing, I am finally recovered enough from my evil cold to go back to the gym. Which is...great? I like to get exercise, I generally feel better when I do, but man oh man, getting out of bed at 5:15 AM, after not doing so for weeks, is awful. Getting up super early hasn't always been difficult, although if you have been following me for a while, you will know that it is a periodic problem that I tend to whine about. Lately, I suspect the reason is the infant-inconvenience - I just need more sleep now than I usually do. That, and it is just cold and dark out and my bed is warm and soft. No matter the difficulties, I have managed to drag myself to the gym every day this week (Monday sort of doesn't count though, because I had the day off and was able to go at a much more civilized hour).

And I need it, since my tennis team is starting up again for the season, and I have to be in good shape for my singles matches - so much more running around than in doubles! And I intend to play singles for as long as possible this spring. Most people I know actually like playing doubles better than singles - I tolerate it as a necessary evil, since it means I get to play more often than if I was only playing singles. I like that feeling of intensity as I am running around the court, of a one-on-one battle with my opponent, and of not having to feel bad that you ruined the game for your partner. That one is key with me, since I am not particularly good at doubles; I always seem to move the wrong direction, which means I am often out of position for a ball I am supposed to hit. I'm working on that, and may actually be improving, but for now, give me the whole court to myself. Which, in a nice, circular way, leads me back to the gym. And 5:15 AM. Sigh.

I actually won something!

Wahoo! The tennis tournament was a success! Benjamin and I both won our divisions for singles. I think this is the first time I have won anything athletic since I was in elementary school and swam on a neighborhood swim team. I mean, I have won matches, but never the three in a row needed to win a tournament. We both had one match that was fairly easy, one that was long and difficult, and one that was difficult, but not quite as long.

And now, because the world needs more cute pictures of Miikka, here is one of him in the magic sunbeam with his favorite toilet paper tube scrap.

Tennis weekend coming up

In the ongoing attempt to keep life as normal as possible during pregnancy, I have entered a tennis tournament this weekend. You didn't think I would let a little thing like that get in the way of tennis taking over my life, did you?  We have been playing in an informal mixed-doubles league since November, and still have our weekly class, and now, a tournament. I haven't really played singles since October, and since the actual league season starts next month, I figured I needed some practice. (Yes, I know most of you don't know and don't care about the difference in the informal and actual league play - just read one as "for fun" and one as "serious, if we win we could be really cool" or something like that.) So, I will be playing three matches over the weekend in a round robin sort of thing. It is indoors, which is sort of a bummer, because playing outside is better, but since it is only supposed to get to 50 tomorrow, I guess inside will have to do. Actually, we did have our lessons outside both of the first two Saturdays of the year, but it was a bit warmer those days. 

Anyway, I have no idea how I will do - like I said, I haven't played singles lately, and while doubles is still tennis, it is really different in the way you play shots and how much you run around. If I win it all (bwa ha ha) I will surely let you know.

Tennis again, and a recycling rant

The fall tennis flex league starts this week, so tennis will be taking up more time in schedule again for a while. I've only been going to one class a week, and not playing outside of that since the end of July. I have a match today after work, and Benjamin played two matches this weekend. At least the weather is a lot cooler than it was this summer!

In other news... I thought I had read an announcement that our local public works was going to be distributing new recycling bins this fall that would hold a lot of recyclables and wouldn't require sorting, like my parents have in Bellevue. Can I tell you how much I want this? A lot. Currently, the only recycling Maumelle has curbside is newspapers and aluminum cans. Totally useless to me - we don't get a newspaper, and don't use many cans. You can take other recyclables to the recycling center/transfer station, but they have to be separated by type, and I don't think they take glass. When you don't have city-provided bins for keeping things separate, it is a total pain in the neck to do so - we've tried. Anyway, so today I finally got fed up waiting for news from the city about this and emailed the public works department. And found that I was wrong. They have no plans to change the system that is in place, and "In order for recycling efforts to be cost-effective and not end up in the landfills, the materials must be sorted." Which is, as Bellevue shows, totally false. Not to mention that Conway's drop-off doesn't make you sort anything except glass. So I guess we will have to continue doing what we have been doing, and taking monthly trips to Conway with our cars full of recycling. I have been unable to properly recycle anything at my own home since I moved away from home in 2001 - in Austin, our apartments never recycled anything, so we had to take everything to a recycling center there too - and I am getting tired of it. I mean, how many other people in Maumelle actually bother to take any recycling to the drop-off center? Probably not that many. I do, but I am close to what my cousin (who is one himself) calls a hippy nut-job (I have two compost bins and a worm bin - definitely hippy nut-job). In this advanced day and age, we should have smaller garbage cans and larger recycling bins, and I should have to sort my recycling. Simple things to save the earth, like recycling, should be getting easier, not harder.

My First Tennis Match

Last night I played my first real tennis match for my new tennis team, and it was a lot of fun. I have played singles games before, but only with Benjamin, and for those of you who know me and my competitive nature, those usually don't end well. He is better than me (not that either of us are great), and I don't like losing to him. I mean, I really, really don't like losing to him (especially at tennis, which is ridiculous, since until November we had never taken lessons and were really pitiful) and I am a pretty bad loser. We have been playing in a small beginners' league since February, but that was different, because it was doubles, and it was more relaxed. So, I was a little apprehensive about playing a tennis match with someone else, a stranger in fact.

My singles match was hard-fought, lots of back and forth points. I moved well, got to the ball most of the time, made most of my (admittedly rather weak) serves. The best part was the feeling of playing outside, under the lights, with the darkness of the night sky overhead and a spring breeze cooling me down after a furious point. I didn't win (5-7, 3-6 if you are keeping score - I should have done better on the second set - I was up 3-1 early one, but I couldn't hold it) but I didn't give up or turn into a Hulk-like sore loser either, so it is a win in my book. Now I am looking forward to our future matches, and the chance to play outside under the lights.