I'm retired from racing. Really.

xt

AM bike. And did some weight training, too. Shocked the gym staff.

AM 3 miles running, then 30 min bike. Left felt ok, not perfect

Lunch- ultimate frisbee during a hard rainstorm. I'll take credit for this one, as I talked most the participants into coming. We actually had a fun 7v7. Good fun. My team lost 5-1, then won 3-2. Shin started to hurt a bit more distinctly the last few minutes.

yawn

no run or bike but did walk 15 miles around Washington DC while visiting with my dad

AM- 2 run, then 4 bike. Shin was ok, but not great. Very, very frustrated

Lunch- memorable day. Played 80 minutes of frisbee in a hurricane. Or what is left of a hurricane. We actually had a bit of a low spot in terms of wind and rain for most of the game, so it wasn't too bad for the most part. It was fun.

AM- 3 run, 2 bike. Wanted to do more but had a work meeting. But when I got to my desk, it had been cancelled.

I've had 3 coworkers die in the past 2 weeks. Two of them were in their 50's- one passed away in his sleep, one in a car wreck. Maybe I'm next. My main observation from it is that people are a bit stunned at first, but then life goes on just fine without them. So it goes, as a great writer once said. Indeed.

AM 3 run, 3 xt. Shin was ok

Lunch- ultimate. 22 people, most ever for Wed, so we did 2 games. My team was pretty stacked- we won first game 5-3, then beat the other winning team 5-0.

AM 4 run on GE trail, then 2 xt. Ran right next to 4 turkeys, one of them chased me a bit. My Hokas seem to be the shoes that help my shin feel the best.

I have an iPod Nano 6th generation, my second of the same type. The first died after a few years due to the power button not working anymore (spring died so it would not pop back up). I've had this one 5 years now. I completely shattered the screen last year but I still love it. The Volume Down button stopped working today, though, and the power button is about toast, too. This makes me very sad as I love this iPod. It's a very nice size with a built-in clip for running, stores lots of podcasts (my listening item of choice during runs), and has an FM radio, which is useful as my gym uses radio transmitters to broadcast the sound for the TV's on display. I cannot find any reasonable replacements in size and with a radio, so will likely buy an iPod Nano 7, which is also discontinued but may still be available. It doesn't have the clip and is a bit bigger. I do not want to run with my phone as it is large and expensive, plus does not have radio for the gym.

If I could find new iPod nano 6's, I'd buy them all. Pity when good products disappear.

AM 3 run, then 40 min bike. Felt good on the run and was moving quicker than usual.

Lunch- tied the record for most ultimate players with 24. My team won the first game 5-3, then lost the next 3-5. Fun times. Lots of running, tired. Played pretty well today in the catching and defense front. Also fairly well on the throwing, though a few misfires, plus a few good throws that were dropped.

Rest shin, 50 min bike, then some sauna and steam room.

AM 3 run 3 bike

Lunch 18 people at ultimate, so 1 field. Nice weather. I rarely go into the end zone but had several long throwers on my team so spent a lot of time there. Caught probably 4 or 5 bombs for scores. And I think I only had 2 or 3 bad throws the whole time. However, when it counted, my team still lost. Doh.

AM 5 run. Saw 2 turkeys and 9 deer, including 1 buck that I ran within 10 yards of as he stood watching me. Then bike and weights.

AM- run workout, had to take kid to orthodonitist for free consulation. The consulation may be free but the subsequent work is anything but.

Lunch- frisbee. We had 24 last Wednesday but only 11 today. We played 5 vs 6, with everyone on the field. My team was down a person. Then a few left so we had 4v4 when it counted, on a big field. We had some bad turnovers right at the start and got down 3-0 after just a few minutes while completing only 1 or 2 passes. Then we calmed down and won 5-4. To be fair, we should have won based on the teams as we had a lot more speed.

AM 3 run 3 bike, weights

Tomorrow is my first race in 2 years, a night trail race 5k. I won it all 3 times I've won it. Guaranteed I won't win it tomorrow.

Lunch- frisbee. My team won 5-4. Good battle.

PM- Ran the Moonshiner night trail race for the 4th time. I'd won it all 3 previous times but knew I would not today. This race was my first since Western States over 2 years ago. Was pretty worried about my shin. Wife and father ran, too. I really didn't know what to expect- I figured 20 min and top 10 would be amazing but unlikely (there are 300+ runners). Warmed up a few miles, then race time. I figured I'd go hard (first fast miles in 1+ year) and see what happened.

I found myself just behind the Honnettes at the first singletrack at .25 mile and kept a bit of a gap as I like to see the trail in front of me. I was breathing hard and my hands were already tingly, but I thought it might be sustainable. During the .75 mile road to the halfway mark, co-worker and frisbee buddy Jason passed me, but then I passed him and the Honnettes just before we hit the singletrack for the last 1.5 miles. I pushed hard on the singletrack and really felt great- I was able to go fast and did not feel like I was dying. I passed 2 guys within the first half mile, then was alone for a while. With about .5 mile to go, I came close to another guy, but then he picked it up a bit and held me off just as I started to run out of steam. Ran right next to a copperhead near the finish. Came in 19:55, which was a surprise, and found out later I was 9th overall and 2nd age group. Very surprised I was top 10- I thought there were probably 15 guys ahead of me. Overall I felt great, even my shin, and was very happy with my speed and placing. It was better than expected.

The guy just in front, Brandon, said he recognized me from a few years ago, except I "was a lot skinnier then" (ouch, but true). Then cheered in my dad to age group win and Marci.

It was a lot of fun to race again. If I can get my leg right, I'd like to do it more. This is a special race to me as running fast on trails at night is very unique. I carry a big light (3 AA batteries) in my hand to really light up the trail and show shadows. It works better for me than a small light on the head.

Very fun to race again.

AM- shin felt better than expected so I ran all 6 miles today. Foam rolling after was painful, though.

Lunch- I got beat up at ultimate today. I had a hard collision with another guy that made an audible crack heard by me and others, that ended with me laying on the ground with the wind knocked out of me and some very sore ribs. It limited my running the rest of the day. I don't think it as bad as the last rib injury, but still painful. I also blocked a very hard throw that bruised my hand. Like I said, beat up. But my team won 5-2.

AM- tried running for 30 seconds but my ribs were not having any of it. Biked instead. Only 40 minutes due to an 8 am meeting on my calendar. The meeting was cancelled right after it was supposed to start. Figures.

AM bike

Lunch- decided to try frisbee, knowing I'd be limited to mainly jogs with minimal fast running. I covered a few of the girls, but even then they could pull away from me a bit. I also pulled away a few times, even scoring once. One nice part about Ultimate is that everyone can play, no matter your level or speed. I was throwing well today so stayed in that role. My team won 5-3.

AM bike. Going to the Smoky Mountains for the next 3 days with my father for some camping and hiking. Should be fun, though a few weeks early for prime leaf season, unfortunately.