Stepping Up To The Plate AFTER Thanksgiving

After four days of not working out, I made it to the Wellness Center today.  Prior to working out on Tuesday I tweaked my back.  Since Tuesday was one of the two times a month I meet with trainer Mike Clegg, I decided to go ahead with that work out, even though my back was sore.  I hoped to not just work through the pain, but loosen up my back as well.  Unfortunately that did not happen.  By Wednesday morning my back was very sore.  Stupidly I made the decision to not see the chiropractor. 

 

Thursday the Wellness Center was closed, and my back was sore.  Friday, I went to the Nebraska vs. Colorado football game with my son Matt.  My back was sore enough that I took a number of ibuprofen before going to the game and during the game.  Actually, I ought to count Friday as a work out day.  We park at least a mile from the stadium, so I walked at least two miles on Friday. There are 78 steps to conquer to go from ground level to our seats, so 78 up and 78 down added to the work out.

 

Yesterday I wanted to go to the chiropractor, but he took a long holiday weekend.  I do intend to see him tomorrow.  Today I did cardio only.  I wouldn’t call it a long, slow walk, but it wasn’t a long, fast walk either.  I walked 60 minutes, burned 680 calories, and covered 3.15 miles. 

 

Normally I talk about baseball for about half of this blog, and I am reading a biography of Modecai “Three Fingers” Brown, a Baseball Hall of Famer who pitched in the early 1900’s.  He is a fascinating character, and I will talk about him on other posts, but today I want to talk a little football.

 

Nebraska football is a long way from the standard it set in the 90’s, but it is definitely on its way back.  Coach Bo Pelini and his staff are passionate about the game, and they are player’s coaches.  Some coaches are not capable of letting players think for themselves, but when mistakes are made, they are quick to pass them on to someone else.  Not so the Nebraska coaches.  The players have bought into all the coaches want to accomplish, and the team is becoming far greater than the skills of its individual members.

 

I think Nebraska would love to play Virginia Tech and Texas Tech again, maybe even Missouri.  Oklahoma is a different story, but who really wants to play what may be one of the best offensive football teams ever?  Nebraska trailed Colorado 31-30 late in the fourth quarter, and was marching down the field for what looked like a go ahead score.  However, a quarterback sack on a third down play looked like Nebraska was out of field goal range and was facing the daunting task of trying to make a first down on 4^th and 25. 

 

Nebraska’s field goal kicker Alex Henery had never made a field goal longer than 48 yards in a game.  The go ahead field goal would be a long, long 57 yards.  Pelini asked the kicker if he could make it.  When the kicker nodded his head, Pelini decided to go ahead and kick.  The sound heard miles away was the roar of 85,000 fans as the kick soared through the upright to give Nebraska the lead for good.

 

Nebraska had not played particularly well all game, yet they found a way to win.  A kicker had faith in his ability to get the job done, and Coach Pelini had faith that his player could do the job.  Stepping Up To The Plate has many different connotations as I have mentioned several times, but one is not shirking from a job, rather getting the job done to the best of your ability.  The Nebraska football team certainly stepped up to the plate the day after Thanksgiving and did what they needed to do.  For nearly a year they have worked hard to turn around a program that is far from what it once was, and their success is a good motivator for people like me seeking to lose weight, and get in shape.  Results don’t happen overnight.  It takes months and months of hard work to make real change happen, but when it does, it is well worth all the effort made.

 

I am going to continue to make the effort, and I am going to get the job done too.  Thanks for stopping by.

 

 

~ by Ron Meyer on December 1, 2008.