9:15a

obstacle course
so I haven't quite committed myself to pursuing a marathon just yet.
but reading Nico's latest entry and the article that went with it,
just got me thinking a lot this morning about all the amazing people
out there who are able to pursue
incredible physical feats.
I suppose it takes tons of motivation and focus.

It would be really nice to be able to challenge my body some.
I'm actually pretty curious to realize my physical potential.
To tell you the truth, I'm kind of scared to find out.
Pain isn't really something anyone wants to struggle through.

It's funny, 'never really thought or desired to be anything except
healthy with my body.
Come to think of it, 'Never really tried to be a pro at tennis, volleyball, softball, flag football,
or basketball when I was younger.
In fact, out of all those sports, the only one that I actually tried to be better in was tennis.

I was motivated by the fact that my friend, J, (and tennis partner at the time) decided to
play with another partner, A (who was also another close friend of mine), on our high school tennis team.
They were more of the same abilities, so of course it made sense to me.

But the timing of her news was not so good.
She told me after we had lost our first game ever in our 1.5 seasons playing together.
The loss itself was already disappointing, but
her news was quite the reality check.

Although I completely agreed with her decision, I cried anyway.
dumb, dumb, dumb...'guess the feeling of rejection was too overpowering,
even though my mind was being practical in accepting the change.

Anyhow, I worked twice as hard the rest of that season.
I don't think there was really any room for me to play doubles with another partner.
All the spots had already been filled.
I was ok with that, though, because i kinda wanted a hand at playing singles.

It was great. I stayed after practice an extra hour everyday to work on my serve.
And though I didn't become super power-hitter "slicing up" the court,
I definitely improved my power and accuracy.
And apparently, I was pretty good on the court too. My coach
told me once that the coach from the opposing team we were playing
had told her that I did very well at covering the court. Naks! ;)

The really nice thing too was that my friend, A, would stay after with me sometimes to help. She was so
supportive of me. My favorite memory of those times was when
she would root me on (sometimes she would be the only one on the side line)
screaming her lungs out.
Man, that's love.

I guess there is hope for me then.
If I could improve on my abilities back in the day,
I guess it's not too late to try again.

Man, I miss those days in tennis.
I had such a blast with my teammates.
And you know, we even got this special certificate
because our team had an average gpa of 3.8!!!!
Ahhh...the little things.