The Dream Dean

I am SOOOO tired right now! I think I’m going to take the rest of the afternoon off from moving my body.

So, over the past week, I was able to participate in North Carolina Senior Games (NCSG) in mini-golf/putt-putt, bowling, and pickleball. It’s been a crazy week of Senior Games events for me! Here’s how things turned out…

Friday, April 26: NCSG Mini-Golf/Putt-Putt. Rebecca and I entered mini-golf to play in our age groups (60-64 for me, 55-59 for her). It was fun because we got to play together because we were the only ones in our age groups – I guess most people are still working (Rebecca’s off on Fridays). And since we were the only one’s in our age group, we finished first – and received our gold medals! Yeah! (Side note: For 18 holes, I shot a 36, Rebecca shot a 37.) Picture is me and Rebecca after we finished.

Monday, April 22: NSCG Men’s Singles Bowling. I entered the 60-64 age group; again, I was the only one in my group, so I was guaranteed a gold medal for just showing up. I bowled with the three in the 55-59 age group and at least finished 2nd in the group. Bowled well in my first game, but got really tired the second and third games, due to a 5-mile power walk to start my morning.

Tuesday, April 23: NCSG Men’s Mixed Doubles Pickleball. This was the start of my pickleball journey this week. I was partnered with David, someone I didn’t know. I knew we weren’t going to do really well when he showed up without a paddle…and I had to let him borrow one of mine. Three teams in our division, best two out of three. We got crushed. He wasn’t a great player, but I didn’t do too much to help. I I had a bad attitude at first, but then I just accepted that we would struggle and I had to still do my best. We finished 3rd out of 3 teams, but still received the bronze medal (we declined).

Wednesday, April 24: NCSG Mixed Doubles Pickleball. Watching the warm-ups, I know my partner Betty and I were going to be in trouble. She’s been playing pickleball for about a year now and I haven’t dedicated myself to the game enough to be as strong as I could be. We played a couple a practice matches the two weeks before just to get a feel for each other. Nine teams in our division (60-64), which meant that we had to play 8 matches, each one to 11 points. I thought we would finish 4-4; we definitely didn’t bring our “A” game and ended up being 2-6 over our 8 matches. I can say that I was about tired of sports by this time.

Thursday, April 25: USTA Men’s 40+ Doubles Tennis. I’m sharing this because it has an influence on my pickleball game on Friday. Started the day off with a hard 11 miles bike ride on my Schwinn Air Dyne, then had to wait to play a 6pm match. Head was definitely not in the game, as my partner Tony and I lost 6-3, 6-2 to a team we should have easily defeated. I was SO tired of playing racket sports. Which brings me to…

Friday, April 26: NCSG Men’s Singles Pickleball. After playing tennis the night before, I was not in the right frame of mind to play singles pickleball. Six players, five singles matches in a row with minimal break. Played really hard my first match…gave everything I had and lost. What little energy I had, I used it all up in my first match. Had nothing to give in my next two matches, so they were relatively quick. I was ready to quit my first match after getting down 6-2 to the other person who hadn’t won a match. Took a time out, had a little chat with myself, told myself that I only had to give my best for the last two matches – and I would be done. Came back and won 11-6, then beat the first place person (Ron) 11-8 in my last match. Even though I finished 2-3, I was proud that I at least gave it my all in my last two matches.

I’m writing this on Friday afternoon, knowing that I have another USTA match on Saturday morning (April 27) at 9am. But I will eat something after I finish this note and eat dinner tonight (which has only happened once this week), which I hope adds some fuel to my body for tomorrow’s match. The good news is that I only have two more senior games events left – golf next week and tennis the following week. And they are definitely less stressful events. And I may only have one USTA match left, so that should make life in my sports world a little easier.

I didn’t mentioned that I also played Senior Games in table tennis last Tuesday (April 16). Again, I was the only one in my age group (notice a theme here), so I just played with the older group just to play. Showed up, played three matches, then went out and played golf with my friend Fred.

I wondered how much my body could endure now that I’m taking some pretty powerful medicine for my cancer. I don’t have the same level of energy like to use to, so that’s making things a little harder for me. I think the psychological effects are more dangerous for me than the physical, so I have to be careful to keep plugging away as best as I can. It’s easy to quit, it’s harder to keep going. But I have to keep going anyway.