Tennis: Week One

Today I had my first tennis lesson.  The class is "Women's Beginner Tennis" and I fit the bill perfectly.  Who knew one could be so bad at something that looks so dang easy on T.V.??  There are 5 of us in the class.  There are supposed to be 7 and I'm hoping the other 2 don't show up because it was a really good group.  No one was overly competitive or nasty or you know, didn't laugh out loud when I whiffed the ball multiple times.  There are two of us that are clearly brand new to the game.  The other three have had some kind of lesson at one point or another.

When I pulled into the parking lot, I seriously almost left because every stinking car had a tennis magnet on the back of it (kind of like my 26.2 magnet that I now need to remove to really solidify my retirement) and there were all these groups of women standing around chatting with skirts on and really perky ponytails.  I was in a tank top and running shorts and my ponytail was down right droopy compared to all of them.  I kept screaming to myself "I do not belong here!!!"  I finally gut up the nerve and went in.

We started right off the bat with forehand and backhand strokes (actually, first he told us what all the different lines are called....all of which I've already forgotten).  He was tossing the ball to us nice and on the spot.  Then he got tricky on us and hit the ball to us.  Yikes.  After that, we combined the two - each person was hit 3 balls and we had to go back and forth between the two strokes.  This went on for a lifetime.  I hit the ceiling, the wall multiple times and I even managed to hit him twice.  Oh, and apparently I have "dinosaur arms" because I get too close to the ball when I swing at it.  At the end, he split us up and we got to play doubles.  And I use the term 'play' very loosely.  I think we managed to get one volley going which lasted all of 4 hits.  But that was were I relaxed and let myself try and enjoy it.  Enjoy the new company and new activity.  I have to say, it was a little more fun than the treadmill!  I'm already looking forward to next week....I think.

In other news, I'm officially not doing the Virginia Wine Country Half Marathon on June 4th.  I just have not been able to get myself half marathon ready.  I'm still, believe it or not, battling this bug that started with the flu and never got my mileage above 6.5 miles....not a good way to go into a hilly half marathon.  I'm a little disappointed but on the other hand, I'm fine with it because my heart just hasn't been in the running.  It'll come back somehow I hope.  I'm not going to rush it though.  I'm going to continue to enjoy the classes at the gym and now tennis and take it kind of easy.