Ear Worms and Pink Ladies

Apparently both the lactic acid and the ear worm I picked up during the half this weekend are going to stick around for a while.  I put some new stuff on the Shuffle prior to the run, and late in the run when I was starting to go slightly delirious, the BEP "Meet Me Halfway" came on.  It has been firmly stuck in my head since then.  Go figure.  At least it's a halfway decent song, I suppose?  Ha ha.

As for the lactic acid?  Well, I'm not as sore as I was after the LR Half, but my quads were pretty trashed.  If my legs are going to get sore, it's nearly always my quads for some reason.  Rarely my hamstrings, and almost never do my calves get sore.  Running downhill is supposed to tax your quads even more than flat or uphill running, and god knows there was a decent amount of downhill running on that route.  So yeah.  I hurt.  I read a description one time that calls this kind of sore "toilet sore."  If you've ever been this sore, you know what I'm talking about.

Anyway, I've got lots of stuff going through my head, but nothing has crystallized into any sort of a decent post, so really?  I gots nothin' of much substance tonight. 

I suppose it's as good a time as any to tell you about the all-girls t-ball team Alyssa ended up on this season.  This is her first season to play, and the team is mainly made up of 4 year olds.  Benjamin has been playing for a couple of years now, and in the past, there has always been at least one girl on each of his teams.  We'd never seen an all girls team, although I had heard rumors of one.  Not that I would have requested that. 

So when I got the first email from Alyssa's coach, I was a bit taken aback.  It read as though the entire team was girls.  But it was t-ball.  I was confused.  There were multiple mentions of the color pink, the word "ladies" was used, and I felt a bit nauseous after reading it.  If you know me at all, you know that the word "pink" is only in my vocabulary because Alyssa loves pink.  Redheads and pink do not mix.  In particular, '80 and pink do not mix. 

I tried to reserve judgment, but sometimes I get an F in that category.  I should probably work on that.  Did I mention that I also procrastinate, too?

We showed up to the first practice, and my first impression was that everyone out there knew each other.  Except us.  If you've been in that situation before, you know what I'm talking about.  Add that to the fact that there had been a short, apparently impromptu practice a few days earlier, to which we had not been invited, and my irritation level was pretty high.

As I talked to the other parents, I learned that the coach's wife had indeed requested that this be an all girls team.  And that everyone else out there did know each other already.  No one thought to friggin' ask me if we wanted to be on an all girls team.  Because I would've turned that one down flat.  And maybe that would've been a mistake, maybe not.  Time will tell. 

And to be completely honest, there are some advantages to this.  The difference between the boys at this age and the girls?  Holy cow.  Night and day.  The girls pay attention, they follow direction, and they are focused.  The boys on B's teams?  Well, if they were playing in the dirt less than 80% of the time?  It was a win - and for B, I'd say that less than 90% of the time was a win.  And if you know me, you also know try like the devil not to generalize or make assumptions based on gender.  But this was too different to ignore. 

At any rate, I'm still a little miffed at the whole thing.  I would have appreciated someone asking me if I was ok with Alyssa being placed on an all girls team.  But I wasn't.  And the parents are all very nice and involved, and I'm going to do my absolute best not to let my decidedly non-girlie personality get too abrasive.  'Cause really.  Pink and freaking visors?  DO NOT BELONG IN BASEBALL.  Not even tball.  I am trying.

But I REFUSE to chant "Pink Ladies" in a Tball game.  Simply. Refuse.