Little Green Balls

That's right - little green balls. That's what we shot when we went paintballing yesterday! I had a Groupon for the extravaganza at Pin Oak Creek RV Park, so Jeff, Shelley and I made the trek to Villa Ridge, Missouri. It was a good hour drive but well worth the journey.

When we got there, Paintball Bill and his buddy, Gus, showed us around. They were awesome characters and I'm still kicking myself for not getting a picture. Bill was a 60 year old ex-military guy who had an awesome dangling gold cross earring and Gus may be the name I made up for the other guy because it rhymes with bus. (He was not a small man.)

There were two other groups there when we arrived, which was good because we got to watch their tactics and see how the whole game went down before entering ourselves. It was admittedly a little nerve-racking getting onto the field and wait to get pelted by what was supposed to feel like a bee sting or quick snap of a wet towel. Luckily the weather was nice enough that a couple of layers weren't too hot and were successful in helping to cushion the blows we all got as a part of the fun. Only one of my three welts is still visible today, but the bruise on my leg from the paintball that didn't break (thanks, Jeff) is going to be around for a little while.

Once we learned the accuracy of our guns and got pelted a few times ourselves, it was game on. With face shields on and lots of bobbing, weaving and darting from post to post, we managed to work in quite a few matches in both of the fields to use up our 200 paintballs we had each. We even joined up with the other groups that were there which enhanced the fun.

Ready for battle

Overall it was surprisingly tiring after each match. We were definitely huffing and puffing after each game was over and needed a good 3-5 minutes to recover before even considering going in again. A small side note, I do not recommend running 18 miles in the morning and then going paintballing in the afternoon as I did. (Makes it a little difficult to be quick and nimble in battle. Good news - marathon training is in full effect and going pretty well so far!)

My best bad ass stance while resting my legs. Hopefully it conveys what I'm thinking, "Don't mess with me. You will be paintballed."

Bottom line, we had a great time. I learned that I probably shouldn't go paintballing on my long run days during marathon training. Shelley learned that wearing a bright orange sweatshirt makes for an easily spotted target in battle. And Jeff learned that if he's going to baseball slide like crazy while darting from one spot to another that he might want to wear gloves to avoid slicing his hand on a sharp metal object.

I'm so glad this was on my list. It was a great time. Thanks, Jeff and Shelley for being a part of it! And in case it wasn't already etched in our memories forever, we were able to immortalize the experience on the side of the trailer at Pin Oak:

#6: Go Paintballing - Check!

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