Day 4: T-minus 24 Hours and Counting

I am mostly recovered from yesterday’s arachnid run-in. Still my knee muscles/ joints (or is it ligaments -- whatever is inside there) felt pretty tight, kind of like after you get a leg cramp. I hate those! Or like my knee went to a jazzercize class on its own. Anyway, you get the idea.

Unfortunately I woke up in quite an antihistamine induced fog. It didn't help that my drug induced sleep was littered with weird dreams straight out of a Fellini movie played backwards. The first part of my morning was spent trying to detox from last night’s Benadryl. As a result, I made the decision to cancel my 9am match with Karen. Honestly it was a safety call as I seriously felt unfit to drive. Lucky for me, I discovered espresso comes very much in handy for this sort of recovery and made liberal use of it.

By 12:15, I was completely lucid and spent the better part of an hour refining my response to approach shots, including volleying at the net. (While it's only 3 steps or shots, it all happens so quickly! I feel like I need it in s-l-o-w m-o-t-i-o-n) Plus I was instructed on all sorts of fancy foot work using an agility ladder, which was really fun. It kind of reminded me of high performance hopscotch. Growing up, I rocked at hopscotch. Lately I have many moments where I feel like I’m living “CHILDHOOD, TAKE 2”. Sue T. and I played in the evening and were able to get through several rounds of '21' which is great serving practicet. Sue employs a very sneaky and effective drop shot not to mention well-placed short balls. I'm on to her! She gets me running up to the net, which is just what I need.

THE BIG NEWS IS TOMORROW I AM PARTICIPATING IN MY FIRST TENNIS TOURNAMENT! I happened across a brochure for the 1st Annual Mukilteo Lighthouse Festival Tennis Tournament and decided to just throw caution to the wind and enter. Jump straight into the fire, feet first. What do I have to lose? (I mean other than the tournament.) I am so nervous about participating that I don’t feel nervous. I feel numb. (Maybe I’m in shock.) I am playing in Women’s Singles – Class C, which is basically a 3.0 rating. Apparently there were only a few of us rookies daring enough to enter, so we’re playing Round Robin style. My first match at the tournament is tomorrow (Friday) at 5pm and then again Saturday at 9am.

Being the true friends and supportive tennis buddies that they are, Laurie and Heather, will be there to root me on. Heather even offered to bring pom-poms but I think she was kidding. She did sweetly offer to come by my home before the match and to drive me to the tournament so I don’t wreck my car on the way there. Plus I will have the BIG GUN (i.e. Coach Schneider) in attendance to assist in this landmark event. It should be fun – stay tuned, I’ll let you know how it goes!