Sunday, September 17, 2006

Softball

Exercise 6/6: Backcatcher!
Time: 1 hour

Last night I was wondering how I could legitimately post softball as a work-out. Standing at 2nd base and then batting once in a while just doesn't get the heart-rate going. Then, they made me back-catcher! Now, I have NEVER played that position before (first handicap), I speak very elemenary Japanese (2nd handicap), and I am not well-versed in the details of Softball rules (3rd handicap). I was very grateful to my Dad last night, for all the times we went and played catch at the field down the street while I was growing up! I held my own pretty well. I kept hearing my team-mates yell, "Nice Catchie" (that is the Japanese accent...they actually have a lot of 'English' words in softball, here). And, it also happened that we, as a team, sucked! So, I was behind home plate for most of the evening. When we were up to bat, it was only for 3 batters, usually. By the end of the evening I was soaked in sweat. I had had a full work-out: squat, catch, stand, throw, squat, catch, stand, throw, squat, catch (nice catchie!), stand throw, repeat all evening!
Kudos to all back-catchers out there. I had no idea!
I am also sporting a beautiful war-wound this morning. I caught a ball with my calf last night and this morning I have a lovely contusion that hurts with every step. But I am proud to bear it! ;-)

3 comments:

rachel joy said...

good story! I love that I can hear your tone of voice as you write about it.

xo R

Anonymous said...

Yeah for softball!! Playing catch was always a special time for me as well. Tomorrow we have our season ending tournament - 3 seven inning games and finished by early afternoon. As I read about the humidity and sweat during your game, I thought of the contrast of climate to Lethbridge - it was minus 5 there this morning!!! Do you have any more games coming so that you can continue these best of all workouts???

Colin Madland said...

Actually, this was the last game of the season. :-( They are having an end-of-season party next month, but that doesn't include playing softball...
I have to add, it was really something being back-catcher and having an umpire crouching over you! There were also 2 or 3 other officials calling the game! These ladies are serious about their softball! ;-)
As for the humidity...it is amazing how we have adjusted. When it is below 25˚C I feel like it is chilly!