Beer

You know, there was a lot of derby in my day that I could talk about today.  I could tell you about starting up fresh with another round of Cadets with lots of familiar faces and a few new ones.  I could talk about the awesome jammer clinic that Rat City put on and how I learned to juke.  I might even mention the Rat City bout this evening with its new and interesting strategies.  Instead, at the end of this very long day there's really only one topic on my mind.
Beer.
I'm the kind of person who likes too much of everything - a true hedonist.  I want to eat too much, drink too much, exercise too much, struggle too much.  When I think of the life that comes rushing at me every day I want to come at it with open arms and embrace every bit of the things that are to come.  This is not always a constructive strategy for living well.
Last night I was engaging in my Friday night routine of beer and G.I. Jane when my phone flashed with, "we still on for 10?"  I had forgotten that on Monday it seemed like a feasible idea to nap after work on Friday and then go out dancing, therefore getting enough sleep to make it through Saturday.  At this time, a reasonable person might have reassessed the need to dance.  Instead, I pulled up the bus schedule, found that I could still make it on time and left the house.
More beer followed.  It was a late night.  You're only young once right?  You can sleep when you're dead.  When I was marathon training I used to stay up late on Saturday nights, drinking and smoking and eating doughnuts and then get up on Sunday morning and run twenty miles.  It's totally doable.  Your body is an amazing tool that can do an incredible number of the things you ask of it, even when those things are sort of stupid.
Of course, just because your body can do it, doesn't mean your body won't make you pay for it.  On hour four of skating today after last nights hedonistic pleasures I was hurting pretty badly.  My muscles shook and I felt sick to my stomach.  I had powered through most of the morning but there had come a point at which 4 or 5 hours of sleep wouldn't do it.  Then there's that feeling deep inside your quivering muscles the day after drinking a lot of beer.  You don't notice it if you're just lying around the house but you can't get away from it on skates.
You can't be awesome if you don't feel awesome.
A friend of mine gave up alcohol the month before our last draft.  She had read an article about just how bad it is for the athlete, not just when drinking but for days afterward and she decided it wasn't worth it.  I sort of thought about joining her but balked at the last minute.
Life is too short.  Or is it?  Living every day like you won't get another chance to take in the things you love is a beautiful idea but it's also sort of intentionally short sighted.  There's also a lot of value in taking the long view and making a plan.  My plan is this:  Giving up beer until my next draft is really a very small sacrifice.  I don't really miss it when I'm not drinking it.  I do really hate the way my thighs feel right now.  If I want my body to do the things I ask of it well then I have to give it better tools.
<originally posted on 2.18.12>