Here Battah, Battah!

I love thinking outside the box when it comes to exercising. Yesterday, a co-worker, April, took Lauren and I out to the batting cages during our lunch break. Lauren and I have never gone to the batting cages before. The last time I held a bat was when I was struck out over and over again during team sports days in elementary school. I sucked. But going to the batting cages sounded like fun; you don't have to worry about striking out and being the sucky player on the team. Aside from that, it is super cheap! They offer bats to use for free and it costs $1.00 for 20 balls. April told me that she normally does $2.00 worth during her lunch breaks. Ok, Lauren and I will do the same. Of course the guy behind the cash register convinced us to do six rounds for only $5.00. I am so glad he did because it was a blast!

We got to the batting cages and I was immediately intimidated by the large iron fenced structure. Then seeing the ball zooming towards April made it worse! But as intimidated and scared as I was, I was equally as excited. Lauren, on the other hand, declared, "I am not doing this."

We watched April hit the last few balls of her first round and then I went in. Lauren had the stance and conviction of backing out. I went in and started getting that jittery anxious feeling. Being in the cage was completely different than standing outside of it.

You put your token into the slot and a yellow light comes on by the machine that shoots the balls out (forgive my lack of knowledge on the proper terms, we shall call this the "launcher") to let you know that the machine is on. I started jumping up and down like an over-eager two-year-old. Next, a big red light comes on right under the yellow one. I was freaking out at this point. The lights on the launcher looked like the eyes of a lopsided monster about to attack me!

The first ball launched, I swung and missed. The second one launched, and to my surprise, I made a connection with the bat! I hit the ball to the ground, but whatever, I hit the ball! Every un-athletic bone in my body reverbrated with joy. I hit the ball! I hit the ball! I hit the ball!

It was so much fun and all too soon my turn was over. Lauren saw that I didn't kill myself and decided that maybe it was safe to enter the cage. Surprise, surprise, she loved it too! Here are a few pictures from our fun lunch break at the batting cages (it's too bad that my phone doesn't reflect what a truly beautiful day we had here yesterday):

April showing us how it is done!

 

Lauren exhibiting how Betty Boop would be hitting the balls.

This is the picture that will be on my baseball card.

And here is an action shot for you.

I didn't break a sweat, nor was I tired when we were done in the batting cages, which was great since we had to go back to work, but I was surprised to wake up this morning and find that my left side and, ahem!, my left butt cheek were slightly sore.

The batting cages is definitely a fun thing to do during my lunch break instead of going out to eat. I will certainly be back. Now if you will excuse me, I need to go find a pink pair of batting gloves and a pink bat.