Almost 40 and in my #BestShapeEver

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Just about every Tuesday for the past month I’ve been receiving a text message from a buddy of mine. The text would read something like this…

“Fellas, tomorrow night 9pm. Blue court. In or out?”

It’s a roll call sent to a group of guys to see who is available to play basketball in an adult basketball league in my area. For those who are new to my site and story, I’ve been playing basketball practically for my entire life.

Basketball for life

I started around age three, began playing in leagues around the 3rd grade, played throughout my childhood, played for my high school (winning the only state championship in our school and city’s history), and eventually playing four years of college ball on a basketball scholarship.

Basketball has been a big part of my life. And although today I spend most of my time around sports coaching my kids, I have no intentions on give up playing basketball anytime soon. In fact, I have a family member who has played in the over 40 leagues, over 50 leagues, and even over 60 leagues. Is that in my plans, possibly. I don’t know, but the bar has been set in a “basketball family.”

An end to basketball?

So, back to the text I have been receiving. The desire for me to play is there, but as a husband and father of three I have to budget my time and dollars wisely. A week or so ago I was leaning toward replying “Yes, I’m in!” to that text. That is until I was playing pickup basketball with my son and tried to make a basic move. I felt like my hip was going to fall off!

Then not too long after that I was playing football in the yard with both my sons, and that sealed it. I am in no shape to play any type of competitive basketball…at least not right now. But what it has done is encouraged me to get back in shape. Not just any shape, but my #BestShapeEver! And not just for basketball. For health, energy, quality of life in the future, and all of that.

Next time I’ll be ready

Then when the next adult basketball season comes around and I receive that text, I’ll be able to quickly respond without any doubt, “YES, I’m in!”

Until then it’s the grind of working out regularly and eating the way I’m supposed to eat. The first phase of my #BestShapeEver commitment is running a 5k with my wife (the marriage that gets fit together stays together…right?). We are serious about this, and to get we’ve signed up for a fun run, the Color Me Rad 5k.

Running a 5k

We ran it last year and had a great time! So, we found out the Color Me Rad 5k will be back in Indy next month, so we jumped on it. We know we aren’t the only couple out there that would love to be in their #BestShapeEver, so we asked our friends at Color Me Rad 5k to allow us to give away some registrations. They gladly said yes.

So we have two FREE registrations for the Indy Color Me Rad 5k next month on September 6th. If you are interested just follow the steps to enter the giveaway below.

How to enter to win Color Me Rad 5k Indy registrations

  1. Leave a comment below answering the following question: How long ago were you in your #BestShapeEver?
  2. Like my Facebook Page using the form below.
  3. Tweet the followingGetting in my #BestShapeEver starting w/the @ColorMeRad5k! Win FREE entries from @jbledsoejr
  4. Follow me on Twitter using the form below.

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How long ago were you in your #BestShapeEver?

Photo credit: Color Me Rad 5k

Aug 19, 2014