Weekend Warriors: Battle Cookeville

This past weekend Zack's Ultimate Frisbee team played in a tournament in Cookeville, TN. So, after work on Friday we all caravan-ed our way up to the tournament. I had made some snacks for the road and gave each car a bag of White chocolate party mix. We stopped in Chattanooga for dinner at Sticky Fingers and then headed off to Cookeville.

white chocolate party mix

Sticky Fingers

It was Eric's birthday on Friday so Anna Lauren, his sweet wife, had planned a surprise birthday party for him. When we got to our hotel, two of the couples decorated their room with balloons and streamers. Everyone gathered in that room with noisemakers poised and ready to go and when Eric came walking into the room everyone yelled surprise and made as much noise as possible...likely to the chagrin of our surrounding hotel neighbors as it was around 11 oclock.
Eric was thrilled and Anna Lauren had made him his favorite German Chocolate Cake. Shortly after our birthday celebration, we all headed to bed since we had a full day ahead of us.

The birthday boy

The wives/ girlfriends watching from the sidelines

Saturday morning, the guys got up early to head off for battle. They had their first game at about 9 oclock. The girls slept in a little later and got prepared in our multiple layers to try combat the cold and rain (great combination). We headed out to watch our men play and to cheer them on despite the inclement weather. The guys won their first two games.



During the third game of the day, the rain and wind picked up. The girls decided that with the weather like it was it was probably a good time to head off for some lunch. We went to Great Harvest Grain Company for some soup and sandwiches. Then, after lunch, we stopped by a really cute little coffee shop in down town Cookeville to get some coffee.



We headed back to the field of battle and watched our guys from the warmth of the car as they won their last game. Yay!! Our boys were victorious at 4-0 for the day.










We headed back to the hotel where the guys took showers and then headed out for dinner as a group at the fazoli's down the street. I don't know if here were prepared for the amount of breadsticks that 16 hungry boys and their wives/ girlfriends could consume.

After dinner, we headed back to the hotel and just relaxed for a while before heading to sleep. Sunday morning, the guys had their first game at 10:45 am. So, we all checked out of the hotel at 10 oclock that morning and the guys headed over to the fields while the girls went to Starbucks for coffee and to hang out before the games started.

The weather Sunday was worse than Saturday. It was colder and there was a constant misting rain. The guys were FREEZING. We got to the fields near the end of their first game. They won 13-3. A good start for the day.

Gretchen, Allison, Anna Lauren and I sat in Anna Lauren's car watching while the guys played. We would honk the horn when they would score.

After the first game, we had to head to a different field. So, Anna Lauren started to move her car only because of the rain the place that we had parked had turned into a muc pit. Her car got stuck in the mud. Allison and I got out and helped Zack push the car from the front as Anna Lauren hit the gas to get the car out of the mud.

This isn't Anna Lauren's car, but I thought that it showed a little bit better the conditions of the day.

Once we got settled in a new viewing spot, Anna Lauren had her car's auxiliary power running so that we could listen to the radio and use the windshield wipers. Near the end of the second game of the day, we decided that we wanted to turn on the heat so Anna Lauren tried to start her car....nothing...she tried again....nothing. After the game was over. Gretchen pulled her car over and we jumped Anna Lauren's car off.







I didn't take too many pictures on Sunday due to the weather...and Zack sprained his ankle during the last game so I was a little preoccupied with taking care of him once that happened to take pictures.

I saw Zack take the fateful step and then fall writhing to the ground. I opened the car door and started toward him. As I headed toward the field I heard someone say "straighten it" ...then I started running fearing that Zack had broken his ankle...it was a moment of sheer terror...until I got close enough to him to see that the ankle still looked like it was attached correctly. Zack was carried off of the field and then I was able to assess him on the sideline. He was able to bear weight, so that made me feel better, but he had some strange swelling already starting a little bit above him ankle.

Zack took some Ibuprofen and then we headed to the car to get clothes for him to change into since he was soaking wet and it was COLD! Once he was changed, we headed to get some ice and an ace wrap to treat his ankle. I got to drive home with Zack sitting in the back seat of the car with his ankle propped on the arm rest in front of him....I must really love him to chauffeur him around like that!! :)

All in all, despite the injury, Zack and I had a good time and enjoyed getting to build relationships with the other people (and wives) on Zack's frisbee team.