Losing weight at State

To expand on my experience during the state tournament, I figured I would tell you about my first experience with a heart rate monitor.

Being a Bears, White Sox and Bulls fan really set me up for failure because I know no lead is ever safe and they always leave me on the edge of my seat.

When I’m deep into a game I know that at any moment my heart rate goes crazy.

When the Malta Mustangs faced off against Wolf Point in the Class B State title in Butte a few years ago, it was my first taste of a state championship game.

Throughout the first three quarters our boys were slowed down offensively and things weren’t looking too good.

I was thinking either way I have to write about the game, but I was nervous I would have to write about them losing the game.

I was nervous for the boys and my heart rate rose a little bit.

Malta did eventually gain the lead in the fourth quarter but Wolf Point forced an overtime period.

The game was a roller coaster that eventually ended after three overtime periods.

We ultimately won the game but I can’t help but wonder, how fast was my heart beating?

The next few years the M-ettes have been in championship games, with them losing the 2014 chipper but winning the last two titles.

My nerves have been rattled in each of those state tournaments but in the 2015 tournament Malta was pitted against Forsyth, who was undefeated before facing Malta.

Between our point guard facing an injury and other situations throughout the game, I felt like my heart was beating outside of my chest.

So this year I took my heart rate monitor that syncs with my fitness tracker and I tracked my heart rate during the M-ette –filly game. It seemed like a game the M-ettes would slowly run up the score, but that didn’t happen and Shepherd stayed in it. With my heart rate monitor strapped on and the numbers readable on my wrist, I looked down every once in a while to see.

My resting heart rate is about 77 beats per minute (BPM). After drinking coffee and heading to the Butte Civic Center it reached about 120 while I was walking.

In the third quarter of the game, my heart rate reached 170! That’s the equivalent of a run on the treadmill and I was simply standing still with a camera in my hands. Crazy.