phlawless

You make a good point. In fact, I wasn't depressed after the game, because of the endorphin rush from the exercise and the knowledge that I hadn't totally embarrassed myself playing away from goalkeeper land. (I have been pretty intensely depressed for most of the last week, though, for reasons unrelated to football.)

The reason I can still run across a football field in my mid-30s is that I only started doing so a few years ago, as opposed to people who'd been running around ever since they were kids, and when they hit 29 their knees start falling to pieces.