Game. Set. Match. And a Blister.

I had the good intentions of doing a "long" run today (long is not that long these days). But, sleeping in until noon (amazing) coupled with 90+ degrees and the fact that I ran 7.5 HILLY miles the day before put a damper on my motivation.

I felt like I needed to move around though as I ate a ton of cookie dough:And my brain tends to think like this:

So, I asked the little bro (Harrison) if he would hit with me after he was done with his "real" tennis for the day. Tennis is sort of a family affair in our household, minus my sister who wants nothing to do with the sport. I started playing around age 14, played in college, and hope to dominate the mom leagues some day. My brother plays competitively, too, and is now 17 looking at his college options. I taught him everything he knows (Ok, not really, but I like to think I did) and drove him around TWO WHOLE SUMMERS when I was in college to fabulous tennis destinations like like Columbus, GA and Little Rock, AK. Little H kindly took it easy on big sis, probably because he was tired from his 1.5hrs of tennis beforehand.

I love running these days, especially because it fits in pretty well with my lifestyle, meaning it is the most efficient, no fuss exercise I can get in with my busy schedule. But, today made me really I miss tennis a lot and running probably won't be able to fill the void of not playing tennis (for now).

Tennis is, for me, a bit more expressive of a sport than running. From the clothes to yelling after a point (which I am prone to being guilty of), I feel like I can make tennis my own, give it my own style. Maybe I just haven't gotten to that point in my running yet.

There's something also about just going and hitting the crap out of the ball along with screaming and yelling that is just so satisfying. At least it is for me...

Here are some pics AND a video of me and little H's hit. Of course, I'm posting a video where I didn't miss and my brother did. To his credit, he took the pace off a bit for me (much appreciated, little H).

[Video is proof you can move you feet and bend you knees minimally when playing tennis is you want to!]

Down side to not playing much over the past 3 years....BLISTER.
And how do the Smith kids refuel after hitting on a 90 degree day? Picky Bars, of course! (Harrison will actually eat them, which is proof that anyone would like them).

So, I'm putting that long run off until tomorrow and, if all goes as planned, may try to work in about 10 miles tomorrow once I get back to NYC. "Try" is a key word here though. Motivation to actually do that tomorrow much appreciated (if anyone actually reads this). You better believe I'm taking some of that cookie cake back to NYC with me so maybe THAT can be my motivation to get out the door tomorrow...

(PS: thanks again, little H! You're the best brother a big sis could ask for)

(PPS: Steve, if you read this, I'm prepping for women's interclub.)