Catching My Breath

I think I am finally getting over the sickness that came over me starting last Wednesday. Wow, it's been a week? Ugh. It started out being a badly-congested nose which I had to blow non-stop, it seemed. I literally sat at work with a box of Kleenexes at my desk next to me, and I went through two of those boxes. Needless to say, I had problems sleeping at night, having to wake up 4, 5, 6, 7 times each night because I was not able to breathe out my nose. Around this past Saturday, the congestion and stuffy nose slowly came to a halt, but I'm still in a state where I get very short of breath and oftentimes have to stop mid-sentence to take deep breaths in order to keep from coughing. The phlegm has built up, and "loogies" have been a common theme this week. I'm almost done, though!

My symptoms didn't seem to bother me too awful much Saturday when I ran in a 5K race in Akron with two co-workers, Dave and Ken. I ran a 24:35 which came to a 7:55 per-mile pace. My goal was to run a sub-8:00 pace. I did that, so I'm OK with it! The race was at the Portage Lakes Park at 9:00 AM, and then we had a cookout at Ken's afterward with Ken, his wife Kristen, and their kids Megan, John, and Ryan, then Dave, his wife Michelle, and their kids Ashley, Tank (Kyle), and Mildred (Samantha), and my girlfriend Jennifer. We had a blast! Jenn and I were physically exhausted when we got home, but we wouldn't have it any other way.

I sure hope my sickness clears up for this weekend, as this year's first softball league starts on Sunday. I'm playing in a Men's AA league in Lakewood with Jennifer's best friend's boyfriend, Chris. To make a long story short, we were supposed to play in the not-so-competitive league, but some things didn't fall through, and we had to move up one classification into AA. It requires matching uniforms, hats, pants, and such, but it will be a lot of fun playing up to the competition! I have everything I need except my shirt and hat, which Chris has ready for us when we see him Sunday (or before). Oh yah, the league is played on Sundays, done in double-headers, which is pretty sweet. I've always wanted to play double headers, because as soon as I'm done playing a softball game, I always say "I'm ready to play another game right now!" Well, I'll get my chance. Hopefully I don't embarrass myself. Haha! We'll see.

As for the rest of what's going on recently, tonight our baseball team beat Manchester 5-1 to advance to a season record of 6-2. (I am an assistant varsity baseball coach for Triway High School, if you didn't know.) We lost the first two games of the season to Indian Valley, who are the defending state champs, but we have rattled off six straight since then. We have a double header Saturday at home against Smithville, so I hope we can continue to play like we have thus far this season. Well, I think that's all I have for now. I'll catch up more later.

Smile! May God continue to bless you.