Soccer........at Altitude

On Friday at the end of the staff development day, a district employee announced a staff soccer game to be played on Saturday in Eagle. Now in my day I played a lot of soccer. Not the most talented, (definitely not as talented as either of my brothers) but I did have decent skills, and was more of a bruiser/enforcer than the skilled silky smooth type of player. I have not played soccer in probably over 2 years, although it is still one of my favorite sports to play.

So saturday at noon, I showed up to Terrace Park with my spikes and shin guards (which I elected not to wear in order to look much more cooler... shin guards that is) We ended playing 7 v 8. We had a good mix of guys and girls. We played 2 fifteen minute halves, then another 10 minute game.

Of all the people that showed up I figured I was in better shape than most of them, (although I have been taking it kind of easy lately). However, after the first short intense burst I was left gasping for breath. Soon after a series of short intense bursts I found myself taking a few plays off (it was a pickup game for crying out loud...) I had forgotten how much soccer can wear you out. It's the short intense bursts of energy that do it to ya. The altitude prolly didn't help much either. Even though I am well acclimated by now, it doesn't make it any easier to breathe during these short hard bursts of energy.

It was a blast! I love playing soccer and had forgotten how much fun it is. I think it may be something that we start doing a couple times a month. I ended up scoring a few goals and I think my team won, but who was really counting anyway..... :) Oh yeah! instead of halftimes, we had beer time, the Human Resources director brought a cooler of beer out and at halftime he would yell "Beer Time" and we would go to the sideline and rest, then get back out there to burn the carbs.... Good plan if you ask me!

We found out about this awesome website from a guy at work. It's called steep and cheap . It is a website that sells outdoor type clothing one at a time for super reduced prices. Can find some awesome deals if you keep an eye out for them. We have found a few already.