All While Having to Pee

When I dream of Professional Basketball I think of dropping 20 and 10, thousands going crazy after one of my signature dunk and yells, shoe endorsments, and celebrity appearances with Will Smith and Halle Berry.  I think of interviews with Larry King and SportsCenter anchors chasing you down after a game to get your out of breath comments.  I think of the fame and the money that comes with all the popularity.

This blog entry is about none of those things.

Sure the Lebrons, Kobes, and other high profile guys of the illustrious NBA live this lifestyle daily, but for the vast majority of the professional basketball world there is a day to day grind that is called preseason.  This may be anything from shooting practices once a day to having 2 practices a day.  There are some teams that even take you out to the mountains and run you to death.  

Jamie: "To get on one of those teams is really rare tho,"

Adam: "Yeah that would be miserable.  Whoever gets on one of those teams it sucks for them!"

Sometimes I really do believe Karma is real...

The first day we had conditioning we ran in the woods. We drove up a mountain to get to there and headed to granny's house (get it? over the river and through th...ok whatever if you dont get it nevermind).  The running was tough but I stayed with my teammates in the middle of the pack through the three days that we ran this course and was quite proud of the shape that I had gotten myself into before I got here.  My one point of concern was when we had to give urine samples.  As I was donating to the cause in a styrofoam cup I zoned off thinking about who knows what.  When I came to I looked down and wondered why I was holding a cup of apple juice.  

I really need to drink more water.   

Although my knees would hurt pretty bad that does not come as a surprise to anyone who knows me and it was nothing a little ice couldn't handle.  You are going to be fine Adam Constantine.  

Then he came.

When I heard we had a conditioning coach I figured ok its a guy that will put us through the same type of running that we have been doing.  Maybe one day I will learn that I don't know everything and there will still be things that I don't understand.  I meet our conditioning coach today for the first time.  He is probably about 5'4 with a stocky build, and he always wears a hat and sunglasses but you can feel the intensity of his gaze as he stares up at your face.  

This is my new master.  

Before we start running he looks at me and says, "По сум сторил со вас ви се случува да ме сакаш повеќе од било кој тренер пред мене." Which my coach laughingly translated to me, "After I am done with you you are going to love me more than any coach before me."

I should have quit right there.  

We park our cars on the edge of a downward slope of a mountain.  I look at the slope and its pretty steep but it honestly doesn't look that bad.  My teammate looks at me and says. "We will walk to the running hill now."  I am confused because this is the only hill I see but I fall in line behind him...10 minutes later we arrive at the foot of this MOUNTAIN...as in THIS IS NOT A HILL, I AM MENTALLY PREPARED FOR A HILL, AND YOU HAVE BROUGHT ME TO THE SUMMIT OF MT BULGARIA.  I then ask the question, 

"Wait we are running up THIS mountain?"  

Everyone Laughs.

Even as I type this I don't understand what is so funny.

"This is not mountain, those are mountains there."  I look to where he points.  No...those are BIGGER mountains.  I look for any conceivable way of escape but there is none in sight.  I hear the inevitable whistle that cranks up the fear and dread in my brain another notch and we begin the  long trek up to the peak.

Ok, now I want everyone to close your eyes...wait actually that wont work because you're reading this but just imagine this if you will. Imagine you are dreaming.  And in that dream you are running straight up.  But as you look around you realize you are not moving.  You are staying in the same spot.  You try to push harder but your body doesn't respond. Sweat is pouring down your body and you want quit, cry, hurl yourself down the side, and get struck by lightning at the same time.  But you can't.  You have to keep running...up...

All while having to pee.

I literally contemplated for 15 minutes whether I should just lose all dignity and be just another one of God's creatures doin' what they do.  

I pull myself together and continue running...up the mountain...then down...then up...then down...four times...four long, mind numbing, tear jerking, leg searing times that seem endless.  For those optimists out there who are thinking, "But I'm sure it was a beautiful view!!!" Well you are right and before we started running they told me that from the top it is beautiful you can see the whole city from the peak.  It is really breath taking they told me.  Well when I got there my breath was certainly taken away but that was because of Mr Macedonia who knows less english than I know Bulgarian...and I have been here four days.  Although when I got up to the top and look at the whole town a with vast plains, evergreen forests, sparkling lakes, and winding rivers you know what I thought?

Screw this view.

And ran back down.

More like granny hobbled down as I let gravity take me and only slowed enough not to crash into one of my teammates in front of me (anyone who thought I was in the lead may discontinue our friendship now).  I looked like a water buffalo that was born with three legs, but one of this front good legs just broke, and he is running away from a hunter who just shot him with a bow and arrow...actually after picturing that I think I was still slightly worse...

Now calm down optimists, environmentalists, and tree huggers, eventually I will take my camera up there and truly appreciate what I saw and how amazing it is to be around so much natural....nature.  But that time is not now.  Some would have counted 7 lakes that can be seen from the top.  I counted 8 spiders that were on my body.  I thought I played an indoor sport for a reason??

Although through all this I do have a sick pleasure of doing this to myself.  When the dust settles, the bugs brushed off, and my legs heal, there is one thing I know.  Even though there is all this pain, fatigue, and inexplicable feeling to always give more, there is one thing that pushes me through, that gives me the will to keep going.  That is stronger that Mr Macedonia or anything else I have encountered in my 22 years of life.  This is my story.  This has been my dream.  This is my pursuit.  And I won't stop until I succeed.