10-S

This morning I was up at 5:30AM... on purpose. Coffee was brewing at 5:33, and I was out the door by 5:45AM.

I was not headed to work. Or the gym. I was headed to play tennis. Who plays tennis at 5:45AM you may be wondering? And the answer is not me. I was waking up at 5:30AM to go and wait for a tennis court and hoped to be playing by 7AM. But I was waking up super-early, knowing full well that there was a very good chance that I may not get a court until 8AM or later. Crazy, right?

Everyone in NYC plays tennis. Unfortunately, in a city of 6 million people (not including the burroughs) there are only 45 tennis courts. So in order to play you either have to pay hundreds of dollars to join at Central Park, and each time pay $15 for an hour, or wake-up at crazy hours (ie., 5:30AM) to play for free.

When I was in Georgia this weekend I would run at our city park, and each time I ran past the 15 courts the small town of Cartersville has only 1-2 courts would be taken.

Such an imbalanced world we live in... Although, there is a feeling of accomplishment knowing that this morning I was one of the lucky ones that got on a court, played for an hour, and had time to grab coffee with a friend before work. Game. Set. Match!