Faded Periphery

Target found. Zeroing in. Everything else fades away. Nothing else matters. Locked in. Nothing can stop you. Nothing will keep you from from that apple of your eye. You hear vague cheers, encouragement, and comments yelled, all mushed together, somewhere in the background. You can't really make it out, but you know it's for you, and you know people are counting on you.  You push hard and give it all you've got as the adrenaline kicks in. You make some super sweet moves, and bask in some pretty perfect successes, and you kind of feel on top of the world. Still locked on that target. No one will get in your way, and those that do find themselves face planted to the ground, crushed as if they were a fly, left in the dust, or better yet, left as dust in a surprised blunder. There is nothing that can be done as that magnetic pull draws you ever more connected. Nothing quite like it.

Sometimes not so much.

Sometimes you lose the target. Completely. Like you can't make anything right, you can't do anything right. Sometimes you get a leetle tired and have to take a leetle bit of a slower pace. You make some pretty dumb mistakes. You feel like a fool. You let people down. You embarrass yourself, and it can really hurt. Literally. Sometimes you fall, flat on your bum, arms and legs flailing. Not really of the graceful type.  You get banged up a bit every time, but sometimes you get really banged up. You might get a little body-checked. Or you might do a little yourself. You might experience a bruised elbow, a bit of a burn, a swollen knuckle, a would be added appendage, a bloody lip, a pinched nerve, a busted nose, I've seen it all, but none of that matters. You have two choices, but one of them isn't an option, so you get up, rub some dirt in it, bandage up, and lock in on that target again, aiming for that adrenaline height, and attempt to make your team proud.

Either way, whether you "have it" or not at any given time, and no matter how beat up you get, you always heal and the enchantment of the game always perseveres. Whether you only bring yourself to the table, or elicit a whole group of cronies to the team, whether you are old or young, fat or small, married or single, hipster, jock, or regular girl like me, come one, come all. This is not for the timid though, so gird up your loins. It's game time.