Afraid to oversleep.
Can't eat much for breakfast because of the knot in my throat.
Butterflies in my stomach.
Muscles tightening.
Fear of finishing last...
These were the recurring feelings I felt for four straight years in late August at the first day of "training camp" for the Grove City College women's soccer team. The very first event was a timed mile run on the daunting track. You see, soccer players run sprints and long-distance runs - not track - so those laps, with our coaches standing by with a stop-watch, were s.c.a.r.y. Not too mention, for the last three years, worrying that one of the new freshmen would beat me! Okay, that happened...my sister :)
These emotions rushed back to me as I went for a *jog* on the track at Bowling Green State University in Ohio while on a work trip. It's been FIVE years since my last soccer season, and NINE since my first season at the Grove - WOW.
It was a gorgeous end-of-summer-autumn-is-approaching evening. Athletes practicing football and soccer were spread across the field like the numerous clouds in the sky - I could close my eyes and feel like I was back on the field at Grove City, grinding through a long run, tough drills, 120s (sprint after sprint after 120 yard sprint - yeah, not fun). Somehow I came away with a few practice pics like this one - yes, that's me - sweaty, bloody-kneed, and yes, chunkier, I know. It was *muscle*.
GOOD memories. I had one of those ah-ha moments to remember to treasure every season in life, and not just be fixated on the next. Women, (ahem, me) are sooooo prone to do that. How appropriate that I just read Ecclesiastes 3 - "There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every event under heaven."
Oh, and I'm happy to report, I've still got that competitive spirit - clocked my mile at 8:45! And now my body is a-hurtin'. Happy to just reflect on those 3-a-day practice memories for now :)
Some gorgous pictures from an early September Grove City game, circa 2007.
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