Love and Basketball

Basketball madness is officially in full swing, as seen by all the usual signs. 1) I filled out a NCAA tournament bracket; 2) my bracket was wrecked halfway through opening day; and 3) I'm spending more time following the NBA Playoff race/Dwyane Wade's brilliant season than watching college basketball. One thing this year is different, however. For the first time in years, I'm playing more basketball than I'm watching, and I love it.

Ben joined our neighborhood gym last fall, and by the beginning of January had convinced me to join. I could care less about treadmills or ellipticals, but the ever-tempting basketball court seemed like a good way to use my work fitness subsidy. So far, it's been a ridiculously good return on investment. Ben has taken up the sport and the two of us have played in several pick-up games over the past few weeks. Saturday morning we went on a basketball double date with our friends and played 3-on-3 (along with a few strangers) all morning long. I've decided there's no better way to spend a Saturday morning.

In other fitness news, Ben and I are kicking off a new fitness challenge this week. The competition was inspired by a dinner guest last week who declined dessert. He said that he was doing a "Biggest Loser" challenge along with some friends, and I just laughed because he definitely doesn't need to be in a Biggest Loser challenge. In actuality, he and his friends are really doing a healthy lifestyle challenge that rewards you with points for the good (exercising, sleeping, eating fruits/veggies) and penalizes you for the bad (soda, sugar, etc.). After thinking about it, we decided this was a great way to track our fitness goals/partially fulfilled New Years resolutions. So, the fun begins tomorrow.