I'm retired from racing. Really.

Lunch- first Wednesday frisbee game. Hope to play 3 days a week, now. Good game, with a strong wind to make it interesting. My team lost 4-5.

It's my wife's birthday. Stayed home from work, mainly watching the kids so she could go out, plus the usual presents/cake. No chance for workout.

Lunch- frisbee. 7v7. Teams were pretty uneven, stacked against us. I figured we'd lose 5-1, but we only lost 5-2, so better than I thought. Windy.

Lunch- 6 mile run around home. Felt pretty good- first mile was 8:00 or so, last two were 15:10. Fastest I've gone in a long time.

Lunch- 5v5 frisbee game. True to form, whichever team plays terrible at the start (mine, today) ends up winning the final game. We won 5-0. It was one of my better days in a while with some good luck on catches.

So today is our 13th wedding anniversary. We celebrated by spending $1600 on car repairs, not eating the turkey Marci prepared (it wasn't finished 8 hours after putting it in the crockpot so we had a pizza instead), and dealing with ornery kids all evening. Yeah for anniversaries. Maybe we'll actually go on a date or spend a few minutes together at a future anniversary. 

PM- after picking up my car, I went to the gym. Planned to run 6 miles, but felt good so did 8. First time over 6 miles in 4 months. Progress. Then did a bit of biking. 

Frisbee. Only 7 of us, so 3v3 with roving sub. Lost 5-3, then won 2-0.

AM- 30 min bike then ran 7 miles. 

Lunch- ran 3 miles with Barry, then frisbee. Windy day, 7v7 plus subs. I couldn't catch squat today, missed some nice ones right in my breadbasket. Still fun. We were a bit outmanned but still won 5-4. Thanks to the wind and drops by everyone, it was the longest game ever. Instead of the usual 10-15 minutes, it took 25. I think the score was 1-0 after 10 minutes. Long field, lots of running.

AM- 6 slow and tired, but got in a run. 8-8:30 pace.

I've been listening to Dan Carlin's Hardcore History podcast again. This time I'm on King of King series about ancient Persians. Very interesting.

run 1.5 miles, then ultimate. Another breezy day. We got our rears kicked 5-2. Cold, under 40 deg. It even snowed a hair on Sunday, though just a dusting on the grass. Low's this week under 30 deg. 

Started a Whole 30 diet this week which will be 30 days of only whole foods- basically meats, veggie, fruit. No grains, sugars, dairy, legumes. We'll see if it takes off any weight. I'll be interested to see the impact it has, including on my workouts. I've never tried no carb before.

AM- 8 miles in 65 minutes or so, then 20 min bike.

Lunch- only 2 people showed up for frisbee, so we joined the Wednesday soccer game instead for an hour. Not as fun as ultimate.

AM- planned to run 8, but I felt terrible (no carbs will do that to you) so decided to prolong the terribleness. Ended up going 10 miles. 82 minutes, I think- not speedy.

My company is starting layoffs this month. Hundreds of engineers. My manager took a new position and they can't fill his opening due to hiring freeze. Of the 5 people in my group at my location, one was transferred to a different group a few months ago, and 2 more were notified this week that they are being transferred. Either they are getting rid of my group (only 2 people left, no manager) or I'm going to have to do the work of 2-3 people. Fun.

Lunch- 2 run, then ultimate. We lost 5-3.

Went to two March Madness games. The first was close, a 1 point game with 20 seconds to go. The other was a 1-seed vs 16-seed blowout. 

Am- 10 miles, again. And I felt much better then Wednesday when I plodded along over 8 min pace. My first few miles were a warm up (8:20-8:10) but then I broke 8 min and kept going till 7:30 for a while. I felt fine. 77 min or so. Nice to have a run where I feel a little bit like my own self. I am going to be careful to not overdo anything.

AM- running right before frisbee seems to be impacting my game a touch so I ran before work. 4 slow miles.

Lunch- lots of running at frisbee today. Loads of running. We won 5-3.

AM 9 miles in 70 min on GE track. Perfect weather for a run. Didn't push the pace. Started 8+, some 7:30's by the end.

Lunch- 5v5 ultimate. My team lost 5-2. 

Lunch run with barry and seth. Mainly talked about layoffs that were happening today. Layoffs suck. We had thought my department wouldn't be hit but we were, hard. My group and basically all groups. I made it through ok, but still tough. They said they will be filling many of the positions except overseas with cheaper labor. We heard more to come, though not sure when. Anyway, I have a job for now.

40 minutes, we'll call it 5 miles.

AM- 5

Lunch- frisbee. Had 2 fields, so did a mini tournament. My team won the first game 5-3, then switched and beat the other winning team 5-2, then won another game 3-0. Fun day, great weather again- high 50's, low breeze.

AM- 6 on a cool morning. Nice and easy, 7:50-8:30 pace. part of recovery week.

I've found it interesting how no carbs for 2 weeks has not seemed to impact my exercising at all. I haven't done any runs longer than 80 minutes, so maybe I would feel different at longer distances, but I haven't really felt any energy differences for not eating carbs.

Well, it's official. Shingles really does hurt. In case you were wondering. Wearing work pants and having to sit all day is the worst, but it wasn't enough to stop my from playing Ultimate. My team won 5-2 with the last point a full field bomb from me to Chris. Beautiful. My one dive was a huge mistake, however, especially since I landed on my back, which is where the biggest concentration of blisters are. Fortunately, they say the pain only lasts 3-5 weeks (!). This isn't going to be fun.

I'll see tomorrow how much running I can do. There are still more blisters growing on the inner thigh, which may stop all activity once they fully develop. This might be a long, painful month.

I'm officially crazy. I ran 10 miles this morning with Shingles all over my waist/back/left thigh. On the short list of most painful runs of my life- almost stopped in the first 2 miles, but then got used to it. The overall pain has gotten so bad, though, that I couldn't sleep last night, went to the doc for meds today, and plan to rest the next few days. Work clothes are extremely painful, so no work. Shingles is excruciating. The nurse said she sees shingle patients all the time and I have the worst she's ever seen, and the doc agreed it was terrible (you should have heard all the nurses talking in the hall...). Very painful.

I've finally admitted that shingles hurts and I probably shouldn't go running. I'll try to get a walk in today. I'm staying home for at least a few days. By low riding my pants and having my shirt tied up halfway with a hair band, I can reduce the pain at least somewhat. 

I've been surprised how many people have told me they previously had shingles- my coworkers, boss, church friends, family. All agreed it is terrible.

I was asked to give a talk on Easter at church on being strengthened in our trials through Christ. Between the layoffs at work, shingles, and struggling within myself, I've got some good examples, now.