Mediocre news?

Where to start??

First, I actually threw a softball this weekend!! Saturday I headed down to Joliet to see my teammates and make my first throws in almost 5 months. Unfortunately it was rainy and we couldn't find a place to take batting practice, so I didn't get to take swings. My throwing was ok, but I was hoping to be surprised on the upside. While I was hoping to be at 85-90%, I was really more like 65-70%. That was a little disappointing, but it just means I need to actually do more throwing before I'll be ready to play. Before the first game I was able to field some ground balls though and that went well. It was like riding a bike.

On the weight loss front, I tipped the scales at a weight I haven't seen since last November, so that's good. On Thursday after I had made some weight progress, my therapist said that 90% of weight loss is diet. The statement was reinforced when I realized I burned less than 400 calories while running for 2.5 miles. That's a lot of work for not a ton of return in calorie burning, but it's one of the BEST ways to burn them. Anyway, I'm down 4-5 pounds and I'd like to lose another 4-5.

Some incredibly exciting sporting events in Chicago this weekend. The biggee was the Blackhawks victory over the Nashville Predators on Saturday afternoon. They tied the game with 13 seconds left in regulation, then killed off 4 minutes of power play time to start the overtime and scored the game winner less than 10 seconds after the penalty was over. Great theater. The Sox and Cubs both swept as well! The Sox had consecutive walk off home runs to win two of their games.

Friday night, we went to dinner with a softball buddy of mine and his extremely nice wife who just turned 40. It was a good meal and then we had drinks afterwards before heading home. Remembering that 400 calories means another half hour on the treadmill, I took it easy on the food and beer. It was tough though as Saturday was a going away party for Aussie Rick and Deb. They are moving back to Australia next month, but are taking the long route via: an Alaskan cruise, 5-7 days in Hawaii, another week or two in Japan and China before actually getting back to Australia. Nice!