When the mind overrules the body.....

Went to a friends to play some volleyball, catch up with members of her family I see twice a year, and eat some really good food.

Now, I love playing volleyball. The way we all play out at the farm isn't too competitive, it's more for laughs and some exercise. If only I could get my brain to realize that. See, I grew up a pretty competitive person. I played baseball, basketball and other sports from when I was 8 all through high school and beyond. I like to win. I like to do well and be on teams that do well. My only problem is, I'm 46 years old and pretty much a couch potato these days.

I told my friend Jen, that I wasn't going to play as many games as last year, as I could still remember how bad and how long I hurt afterwords. This is where the problem with my mind kicks in. We played that first game, and I just couldn't stop myself from playing more... a lot more. Even after I crashed and burned diving for the ball in the second game. And then again in the third game. Even when my back started hurting and it was tough to stand up straight, I kept playing. We'd take breaks between the games, sometimes up to a half hour, so my back would start to feel better, and off I'd go again to plunk the ball back and forth.

By the end of the day, I'd played maybe 8 games, some of them took a while, some didn't. After the last one, it was time to chow down. I was actually happy that storm clouds started rolling in, with thunder lightly rolling across the sky. Everyone decided to call it a day before it started raining, so I was spared having to decide to play more or not. By this time (it was around 7pm) I hurt so bad I could barely move.

Back home, I took a long hot shower trying to loosen the old muscles back up, which worked fine for about 20 minutes. It's now Monday afternoon, and my legs still feel like they have needles stuck in them every time I get up to walk. Hopefully by Wednesday, they'll be back to normal.

And maybe, come August when they have round number two of their family get-together, I'll be smart and not play as much or as hard as I normally do. Nah, where's the fun in that?

"Til next time....