Fitastic!

... So our Corporate Cup ended today ...

Thank God. I hadn't had a slice of fast food or an ounce of caffeine in six weeks ... So to celebrate I went with my friends Liz and Brian (the three of us, along with our colleague Gary, formed a team for the Corporate Cup, dubbing ourselves 'The Fitastic Four' ...) to Culver's for lunch. We pigged out on butter burgers, loaded up on caffeine and sent all of the good health we built up for the last six weeks crashing to the ground ...

Oh, but it was fun.

I'm just glad the days of wearing a pedometer to count my steps, eating mounds of salad late at night to get my vegetable quota, and going to the gym for early morning workouts, or hopping on the stationary bike late at night to get my fitness points, are over ... for now.

As a team, we turned in 1,778 points for the duration. For the competition, each individual could have earned a maximum of 489 points; I logged a total of 445 for the competition.

And now we wait. For the other teams' tallies, which will be released next week. Although I think it's safe to say the Fitastic Four defended its crown. Heading into the week, the nearest team was 80 points behind ...

Corporate cup

... So my company is competing in the annual Corporate Cup Challenge again this year.

I'll explain.

The Challenge is a 6-week fitness competition between various companies in the city, and participants earn points every day for exercising and eating healthy foods. We can earn up to six fitness points per day (one point for every 15 minutes or activity, or one point for every 2,000 steps walked) by doing anything from biking to weight lifting to walking to playing basketball. And if you cross-train, i.e. participate in more than one fitness activity, you can notch an additional point daily. Additional daily points come from eating at least six servings of fruits and vegetables a day, drinking six glasses of water and not smoking ...

And that's still not all. Individuals can rack up 10 points for participating in various community events -- the MS walk, Race for the Cure, Crop Walk, etc., in addition to points for checking your cholesterol, body fat and blood pressure checked ...

Once again, to encourage some friendly competition, our company allowed us to break into smaller teams of four. I teamed up again this year with my friends Brian and Liz, and we added our office fitness guru, Gary. We call ourselves The Fitastic Four ...

Funny though, Gary doesn't seem to be taking this whole challenge thing as seriously as the rest of us. (Liz, Brian and I are ultra-competitive...)

Last year, we annihilated the other teams in our company. And we're out to do it again this year. Maximum points is our daily mantra ...

We have to turn in our point totals every Monday and we submitted 373 this morning for Week No. 1. That's actually 15 points lower than we posted during Week No. 1 last year. But we still managed to top the second-place team by several dozen points ...

Oh, and new this year, we can earn one point for every week we avoid a pre-determined habit or behavior ...

What a stupid overachiever I am. I chose to avoid two habits: fast-food and caffeine ... and I'm feeling it.

Shaping up

I haven't felt this good in a long time. Physically, I mean.

For the last several weeks, I've been hitting the basketball court at the college. ... The first night out was all about working the rust off, as expected. I probably hadn't shot a basketball in three, four years.

But after last night, I think it's safe to declare my basketball game back on track.

Excuse me while I gloat a bit.

I was hitting my shots in warm-ups and had a feeling I was about to have a good night. I soon got into a pickup game, playing well and hitting a three-pointer in the first game. Our team won, hitting 25 -- by ones -- faster than the opponent.

But I wasn't done.

The team I was playing with next hooked up against a group of stocky black guys who looked as though they'd have a better shot on the football field than the basketball court. Nonetheless, the game got underway and I matched up with a shorter guy, about my height. ... And I realized quickly that I could challenge him under the basket.

Soon, I was driving up against these guys and alternating my shots in the air -- a la Michael Jordan, thank you very much ... I was blocking 'em out, snatching rebounds from 'em, and shooting some swell lead passes to my teammates. … I couldn’t believe how 'on' I was!

Making it even sweeter, my burly opponents began joshing with me. ‘Watch for that little guy, he's strong! He don't look that strong!’ they'd tell each other. …It was HA-larious and I was eating up every minute of it.

I ended up playing for almost two and a half hours, and it felt sooooo good.

But I still wasn't done.

Today was the baseball workout for the upcoming adult men's baseball season.

First up, ground balls. We each got five hit to us and we had to throw from third to first. Other than a bloop fly ball that I couldn’t get back on, and a couple of low throws, I showed up well.

Round two was fly balls. I did pretty good there too, but still let a couple get over my head.

Round three: hitting. If anything I did attracted some eyes today, it was my batting practice. ... I've never been a power hitter. But I am good at making contact, and today was no different. I spread the field with hard ground balls and slapshot line drives. And I walked from the batter's box feeling pretty content.

In the three-hour practice, I competed well with the other 40-some guys who truly have a passion for baseball. And I couldn't be more excited about playing the game again this summer after stumbling through a couple softball stints and having to deal with the ego-maniac, beer-guzzling, clique-y hotheads that permeate the leagues I found.

And on Monday, my company begins its annual corporate challenge -- a month-long challenge and competition of exercising and fitness activities.

I'm pumped.

Spring training ...

So I got the e-mail yesterday ...

My spring workouts for the city's new men's baseball league start on April 22 ...

90 percent of me can't wait ... 10 percent of me is dreading it because I'm still nowhere near the shape I want to be for the start ...

On Friday night, I went to the local college for an open gym night. ... I had a ball and felt great mentally. It was the first time I'd shot a basketball in probably four years. And I'd like to think I looked pretty good in the pickup game I got into. I was pounding the ball hard inside, picked a couple passes, blocked a shot or two ... but physically -- yikes ... I was trying pretty hard not to show how sick I was feeling ...

Then again, if I can keep working out consistently the way I have been the last couple weeks I might be ok ...

It helps that this weekend Kates and I have been again taking care of the world's most adorable and cuddly pooch -- Kates' parents' dog, Chloe ... she pushed me on those long morning walks too ...