NFL Play 60

Day 10 of the government shutdown. Just in case, you know, you’d forgotten. It’s looking like Jose and I will probably STILL be furloughed even when we get back to Houston after more than a week of vacation, which blows my mind. This whole mess is so utterly ridiculous I don’t even know what else to say. So once more, I will move on to other subjects…

Although I still identify strongly with Charlotte, it’s been more than 17 years since I lived here full time — so inevitably there are a lot of new things to see each time I visit. By far the coolest new addition this time is in the large city park just down the street from my parents’ house, where the NFL Play 60 initiative sponsored a SUPER cool play area called the Play 60 Kid Zone. It’s got a Carolina Panthers theme, of course, and features a “training course” similar to what a football player might do.

Katie also came to Charlotte this week to coincide with our visit, so we got to hang out every day. Here she is expertly demonstrating running up these angled walls. I’m not really sure what kind of workout that is, but it was fun to do! You can see some of the other obstacles/stations in the background.

(Katie starting a 40-yard dash)

But by FAR the most fun thing is the 40-yard dash. There’s a timer, along with sensors that measure when you cross the start line and finish line to get an exact measurement. (You can see the two short orange posts above that have the sensors.) And your time is displayed on a small scoreboard near the finish line. You can even get a pep talk (“4th and goal! You can do it!”) by pushing a button on the Panthers sign behind the start line.

(Emma’s off and running…er, walking!)

It was SUPER fun — on Saturday morning, I ran it 3 times in 6.66, 6.74 and 6.64 seconds. That’s not great, but it’s not awful either, I think. But then I tried it again on Tuesday and had to stop because my quads started burning so bad that I seriously thought I might pull a muscle. How sad is that?? But I’m not really in the habit of sprinting as fast as I possibly can, and my 3 Saturday sprints took their toll I guess!

Emma “ran” it too (with a hand-holding assist from Jose) and finished in 54 seconds — under 1:00! Go Emma!

There’s even a photo-taking station so you can celebrate your athletic accomplishments.

Superstar indeed!

These photos were all taken at ~10:30 on Tuesday morning so it was pretty empty, but over the weekend it was totally mobbed with people. I have no idea whether there are any of these cool play areas in other cities, but there totally should be.