I'm retired from racing. Really.

AM Low 20's temp with low teens windchill- coldest run in a long time. 6 miles. Felt generally ok. Happy New Years, everyone.

AM- it is 10 deg outside, only 5 above the all time record low, and I don't have my real cold gear out of storage, so I did 8 miles on the treadmill. Pretty much sums up my life right now.

AM- new pair of shoes, time to phase out of the old. Shoes last a lot longer when you only run half the mileage. 6 miles on the treadmill as I didn't want to run in the cold.

Lunch- great game of 6v6 frisbee today. Frozen ground made for hard, slippery footing. My team was down 4-2 but scored 3 straight to win. Good way to start the year.

7.5 on the deadmill. Planned on 8-9 but my foot started twinging a bit so I cut it short.

AM 7. It was 13 deg this morning so I ran inside again.

Lunch- frisbee on a sunny, cold, barely-windy day. 7v7 with a sub on each team. We played to a 2-2 tie, then the next point took so long that most people had to leave when my team finally scored, so we called it a 3-2 win. It was 15 minute point or so. Then we had a 4v4 game that my team won 3-0. My left ring finger got hit and is very swollen, discolored, and painful.

AM 2.5 on the treadmill but my foot still isn't great so i stopped early and did 15 min biking. Blah. 

Lunch- frisbee- 12 of us- The teams weren't perfectly divided and mine was a bit worse, though we still had our chances but didn't play as well as we should have. We lost 5-3.

PM- solo mid-afternoon run at Paris Mtn. It was in the low 60's the whole time- beautiful, and 30 deg warmer than the past 2 weeks. Very slow pace, trails quiet the first half, then lots of people the remainder. 11 or so miles. No idea on the time. I like not running with a watch.

AM 6 on GE trail. 8 or 9 deer. I finished the Hardcore History WWI series and am now onto the Persian series. Looking forward to hitting the final one, number 60. It's the only one I've never listened to.

Work continues to deteriorate. Lots of key people are leaving for other companies, on top of the layoffs. Jim Harper, who I've run thousands of miles with on the LR group, is leaving, plus Mike Fedor. I feel like the company may enter a death spiral at some point, where enough key people are gone that the remainder can't do the work, causing them to leave. This isn't fun.

Lunch- frisbee game. Another hard game- we got a little chippy. A few of the points were so long that when the score was 4-3, we said next point wins. My team scored, so we won 4-4. That was a first.

AM- 8 on GE trails on a cool, rainy morning. Drizzled the whole time. No people or animals till near the end, when I ran into the whole stinking flock of stupid turkeys. They did not seem happy (watched them attack a passing truck) so I re-routed off-road to exit GE through a fence and run the road past them. Not real fast, typical for these days. I don't know my actual distance, but I think I ran 66 minutes. One of these days I'll charge my GPS watch to actually map the trail.

AM 6 on the GE trails. Wet and muddy. Saw 1 deer, no other animals

Lunch- Temp in the 60's with a steady rain at the start that gradually stopped. 8 people showed up to play on a very muddy field. Cutting was an issue but fun dives weren't. My team lost 3-2.

no run in the morning. Just lunch frisbee- 11 people. My team had our chances but lost 5-4.

AM- bit of an easy week. 6 miles plus weights.

Lunch- it snowed about three inches this morning, so I worked from home then braved the (not too bad) roads for lunch frisbee. It was a fun 3v3 game, so lots of running and not many cuts. My team won 5-2. Unfortunately, I was in charge of a meeting right after frisbee but had forgotten my work clothes, so put my wet clothes back on and worked from the gym for 3 hours. First time that's ever happened.

This being the south, school is cancelled yesterday, today, and tomorrow due to the minor dusting of snow. The roads were clear around town by Wednesday night, but the district includes some of the foothills near the NC border, and if there are icy roads anywhere, they cancel for everyone. Don't get me started.

Anyway, ran 6 miles on snowy, wet GE trails late afternoon. Ran by 3 deer and saw 1 coworker.

GE is in the news for all the wrong reasons right now, which is a bit unnerving. Talk of breakup, underfunded pension, layoffs, mismanagement, etc. Sad to see an icon imploding, and rough to be attached to it. More and more coworkers and friends are leaving.

Up late last night so skipped morning run. Nice day for lunch frisbee, sunny and 50 deg. 7v7. My team was getting beat at first, but, true to the past, we pulled it together for the real game and won 5-3.

AM 5 watching recap of the games yesterday. Foot a bit twingy so kept it shorter

Lunch- 15 people today for a upper-50's day of frisbee. My team had more unforced errors and lost 5-2.

AM 7. Lots of deer.

AM 6. A couple deer, and the turkeys from a distance. I upped some of my weights today, including dead lift, and now my back is rather sore.

Lunch- Most days of frisbee are rather fun. Some are very fun. Today was neither. Blah. Not well played by my team, just not as much fun. Lost 5-2.

Morning meeting with GE Power CEO (who told us it's not a funeral, that there will be no raises this year (that's 3 out of 4 year with no pay increases), and basically said he hopes more people will leave). Fun start to the day- it gave us something to talk about.

Lunch- 6 miles on GE trails. No animals, quite a few people. Reverse from normal.

Lunch- today was Jim Harper's last day at GE, as well as a memorial run for Todd. Todd was the founder and captain of the GE Greenville running team for over 10 years, taking it from nothing to the dominant regional power (2 win streaks of 40+ races, over 800 members), so people came to cheer him on, too, including signs. I ran 1 mile with the group then went to Frisbee. It was a nice day- 18 people. Some hard-fought points. My team was doing poorly at the start. Sure enough, we won 5-4.

AM- last run with Todd this morning. Got up super early (5 am- and this coming off of sleeping only 3 hrs Saturday night) and ran ~7 while enjoying one last run together. Todd's a good guy.

Lunch- ultimate on a breezy day. My team had one guy who kept insisting on playing deep safety, which repeatedly left a thrower open in the middle of the field and frustrated the rest of us. We got down 4-2, fought back to 4-4, then lost 5-4. It was frustrating. Fun, of course, but still.

PM- PM on a cool, breezy day with Seth, Lynn, and Hua (his first time out). Seth and Hua did 4.5, Lynn did 7.5, I added on 3 more by myself. Needed the headlamp the last 20 minutes but my batteries were almost dead. As usual, we only saw a couple people the first 2/3 of the run, then a slew of people the last part when the evening bikers show up.

I thought I might have overdone it yesterday at Paris Mountain, and indeed my plantar fascitis hurt all day, so I did 30 min on bike this morning

Lunch- 5v5 frisbee. The other team had 1 sub while we had none, and they had 3 fast guys while we had 2. It was a rough go of it, so much that they asked us 3 times if we needed to change teams (we galantly and stubbornly refused). The game to 5 started and they quickly got up 3-1. Then we valiantly battled and scored 3 straight- that was pretty awesome, even though we were still making a few mistakes. They scored a quick one, then we had a stupid turnover (the person receiver admitted she got cocky and thought it was an easy catch so relaxed, only to drop it). So we lost 5-4. Good battle, though. The game to 5 took almost 30 minutes.

I continue to get inadequate sleep and my foot still hurts. I did a little cross training this morning. I also planned to weight lift but, halfway through my first set of bench press, decided I was too tired. One of those days.

Lunch- cool, windy day for frisbee. 7v7 with 1 sub on the other team. My team was definitely out-gunned again and were getting whupped. I played pretty poorly the whole time. Game to 5 started and we soon were losing 4-2. However, we somehow scratched out one point, then another... and then the winning point. Still not sure how we did it. The losing team was so annoyed that all except Adrian went straight to the showers instead of participating in the normal post-game stretching and commentary.

AM- wanted to run but PF stopped me at 2 miles. So did some more XT while watching Super Bowl recap. Glad to see the Eagles win

Lunch- 6v7 frisbee (other team had sub). My team got up 4-1, then gave up 2 points before scoring the winning point. Field was very muddy and sloppy from hard rain yesterday.

AM no run, xt only.

5 people sick at my house- fever, aches, the runs, etc. Tons of fun.

PM 40 min xt

no frisbee due to lots of rain today. We've been tearing up the field so it needs a break.

Frisbee, playing on the second field, which has more grass due to less use, but is smaller, has some nasty holes, and a swamp in one corner- 5vs5 for first game, which my team won 5-1. Then one person from my team left, so down a man we lost 5-3.

Frisbee on the B field, with 7v7 so very crowded (plus 3 total subs). My team got up 3-1, then down 3-4, before scoring the last 2 for the win.

Lunch- it rained much of the weekend but 9 of us still showed up to play frisbee. The other team had better players overall (plus a sub) but we won 5-3 or 5-2. Muddy and fun- I dove 3 or 4 times in the mud, even landing head-first once.

XT. And did a yoga class, too. They asked me if I was in there on purpose, and I had to reassure them I was, and that I had done yoga a number of times in the past. Still not sure they believe me.

AM bike and row xt

Lunch- 6v6 with 1 sub on the small field, which is still very wet, almost boggy. My team quickly found ourselves in a 0-3 hole before scoring 4 straight. Then the other team scored one, but my team scored one more for the win. Chris was on the losing team and not happy.

AM- I ran. 1 mile, but it was still a run. The best part is my foot felt fine during and after. Also xt.

AM - 2 miles run. Still felt ok.

Lunch- frisbee on a windy, windy day- wind from one end zone to the other that increased during the play, making it almost comically impossible to throw upwind. 18 people showed up and the field was still wet, but we made 2 games. On the first game, my team went up 4-0, then gave up 3 straight points before winning. On the second game, I chose to kick off but have the wind at our back at the start. It was a battle, especially once Claire left so I was the only thrower on my team. We battled to a 4-4 score before my team won. So we won the tournament. 45 min of official game play, vs usually 15-20 min, plus the wind meant extra running.

My throws were not great, especially at the start. After my third turnover at the start of one game, a girl on the other team jokingly said that she's glad Jon wasn't on her team. Of course, karma struck and she promptly dropped an easy catch, so I was able to then say, "I'm glad Haley isn't on my team."  Good laughs all around.

1 mile. Better than 0 miles

AM 3 running. Foot generally felt ok.

My left shoulder has some pain, possibly tendonitis. I think frisbee is a major contributor. It hurts to even lift my arm the wrong way or tie my shoe. Drats.

No workout yesterday. It was take your kids to work day, so I was busy all day with 4 kids. 

AM- working from home the next 3 days as my wife and oldest kid are on a field trip to the ocean. Ran 3 miles at the gym.

AM- 4 at the gym. Felt very tired the first mile but a short break with stretching made a big difference. Sauna at the end, which brought back memories of Western States heat training.

AM- another day at the gym. I'm figuring out which treadmills work best (or more specificially, which TV's on the treadmills work best). Stopped at 4.5 miles.

2

AM 5 miles. Felt ok

Lunch- my shoulder tendonitis (?) was hurting and it had been rainy, but I heard we had enough people for a game so I showed up. 4v4 on a short field. I couldn't throw backhand due to pain but my forehand was working very well. My team won 5-3. I'd say the teams were skewed towards my team today, to be fair.

4.5 with Paul on GE trail

AM 6 on the GE trails with a light drizzle. 9 deer, no people. I felt really good and hoped I was moving fast- last mile was 7:40, so that is good these days. Better than thinking I'm running fast but actually doing 8:40.

AM- 5 miles on GE trail on a drizzly morning with lots of puddles. Saw 10 turkeys but they stayed a little ways off my path. Plus about 10 deer and a blue heron.

AM 6 

Lunch- fields were dry enough to play on despite two days of rain, but we made 2 small fields, each with 4x4, to stay out of middle muddy spot (caused by shadow of 1 big tree). Windy. I've been religiously icing my arm/shoulder, and it's feeling better though far from normal. Still restricting my play, especially backhand throwing.

I had a good team today. We won the first game 5-2, then played the other winning point. One of our guys immediately went down with twisted ankle, so we played the other team 3v3 and quickly got up 3-0. They brought on their 4th player, but we still won 5-3, despite being down. After both games were done, we cobbled together one more 4v4 game, which my team won 5-3. 

AM4. shorter than usual on account of rather sore back recently and not wanting to overdo it

Lunch- 6v6 frisbee. Slight breeze, great conditions. My team won 5-4.

AM 6 on the treadmill cause I didn't feel like running in the cold rain.

Lunch- 45 min yoga class. I've been very sore and tight lately, especially my lower back. I figured a bit of yoga could help. I'm the least flexible person in the room.

AM- 4.5 with Paul at exactly the same pace as my treadmill run yesterday, except we ran around neighborhoods

Lunch- 6v6 frisbee in perfect, 50 deg weather with a pretty strong breeze. My team had a speed advantage. We won 5-3.

One of the guys on my team today said he really needed a win today as he had been on a long losing streak. I hope I don't jinx myself, but I went and look and my team has won 13 straight (not counting one game where we played down a person)

AM 6 slow miles on GE trail. Around freezing temps. 3 deer, and 10 turkeys blocking my path with a half mile to go requiring minor reroute.

no run on account of being tired and sore

Lunch- 45 min yoga, then frisbee. Temps were nice, very breezy, 7v7. I played terribly, especially my passing. And my team could have used 1-2 more good throwers. They were doing a zone and we just didn't have the enough throwers to beat it. It was a 5-2 massacre, and it wasn't even that close. I got frustrated enough that I kicked a cone at one point. I haven't gotten that frustrated during frisbee for a while. 

AM 5 on treadmill. Legs felt ok but back was done after 5 miles

Lunch- cold, rainy day. Only 4 of us crazy enough for frisbee so we did 2v2 hot box. Alex and I won 5-2.

AM- I managed 1 mile before back hurt enough to stop

Lunch - yoga

Definitely sick- I have a cold. I blame daylight savings time.

sick at home, no workout

Lunch- 16 people for frisbee. Neither team played great- I missed a few catches and throws, but played some good defense, even if I was fairly tired and easily winded from being sick. My team won 5-2.

Am- just stretching and some strengthening exercises

Lunch- it was supposed to be rainy but was quite nice, no rain, overcast, small breeze. Only 7 people showed up but we grabbed one more who was running on the track. Lots of running with only 4 people per team. My team won 5-3.

AM- had to do something physical as I'm going stir crazy not running. Did 30 min bike plus a lot of stretching my back.

I've taken to not publishing my blog posts recently. I'm composing and saving all of them, just never publishing. No one on the FRB has noticed yet, or at least no one has commented on my almost 4 week absence other than my mom. Just an interesting data point.

I'm not one to maintain regular contact with friends who move away. I'm finding I feel rather alone most of the time these days with almost no one to honestly talk to. I've run with people for most of my life, till recently. Now, I don't run at all due to injury, and pre-injury, I did every run solo. I've run thousands of miles with Todd, Jim, and Aaron, but they all left the company in the past few months, so no lunch work runs with them. The openness and cameraderie of running buddies is completely gone. I love my 3 days a week of frisbee (probably the highlight of my week), but you don't get the hours of open talking like during a nice run.

Work is rather stressful right now with lots of layoffs, forced retirements, and voluntary departures (I work for GE- look in the news if you want to guess the overall company morale). I try to not bring work stress home with me and be a drag on my family, so I don't really share much with my wife. Most of the people on my team are in other locations, so there's no one close to talk to here. The guy in the cube next to me is one of the few people I talk to about how we are feeling with work stress- we share thoughts and articles back and forth fairly regularly. Today, however, he said he was going to give me unsolicited feedback, then told me I've been  too much of a Negative Nelly with all the bad news and asked me to stop. So, I will- no more sharing feelings with him. It's pretty amazing that you can work in an office with hundreds of people yet sometimes go the entire day speaking to no one. Yet I'm working long hours, late- often till 8 or 9 pm. But still alone.

I feel like everyone has thoughts and feelings about work, stress, life, etc., and that we need somewhere to process/discuss/share them. More and more, though, I don't feel like I have anyplace to open up. The few people I can open up to have mostly left. I don't want to burden my wife. I've been struggling with depression for a number of years. I feel alone most of the time but then push away people. It's an interesting situation. I enjoy talking to people but feel like there's no one to talk to, no one who is interested.

Some may say that I'm being self-centered. I just need to stop looking inward and go help others. Probably a fair statement. Hard to do when you feel isolated, shut out, unwanted. Maybe I'm having a mid-life crisis and reverted to being a teenager with all their feelings of isolation.

I think the FRB is a reflection of my life and feelings- I used to have lots of real-life friends who were also on the FRB. There was lots of blog commenting. Now we've all moved apart, and the blogging and commenting has petered out. I don't know the last time I saw a FRB-er in real life, especially since Cody left FRB. 3 years, maybe, when I saw jtshad? Heck, even James and Allie just moved- I never saw them, but at least they were near. If I run or not, there's no one to know other than me. I'm not one for social media, but external encouragement can help.

In Utah, I had a lot of coworkers I was close to and we honestly talked. Here, only a couple, but the talking is very intermitent. Life can be lonely.

I'm not sure if I'll publish this or not. If I do, I'm not sure if I really want anyone to read it, or if anyone will. It's kind of a stream-of-consciousness post, I guess. I saw that Rob Murphy was having a rough day, though he didn't go into details. I think most of us struggle some or most of the time with all sorts of doubts/insecurities/trials, but we generally try to maintain a stoic, strong outer shell. I guess my shell cracked a bit today and a little of the truth leaked out.

Lunch- windy day, only 6 people so we played full frisbee 3v3. My team was slower and I think we did well to do as well as we did, especially considering the other team had some great defensive plays. I had some great catches and was ok on defense, throws could be a bit better (wind didn't help that). Fun game overall, lots of running. My team was down 3-0, and ended up losing 5-3.

xt and stretch

yoga and frisbee. I didn't play the best, but lots of people were dropping it. For some reason, I ended up with lots of physical contact today- jostling, a few of us knocked each other down, etc. None on purpose, but a lot more contact than usual. I was joking by the end about all the people I was beating up. My team lost the first game 5-3, then a smaller group played again and my team won 3-1.

AM 20 min bike, stretching. Back is worse today, due to excessive sitting today

Lunch- frisbee. 4v5 for most of it, then 10th player showed up just as we started the game, requiring 2 of us to switch teams. My team was down 4-2 but scored 3 straight for the win. Cool, a bit breezy.

AM bike and stretch

Lunch yoga

Only slept less than 1 hr last night for no particular reason, so tired today

Lunch- warmer, steady wind, 7v7 frisbee. My team got down 0-3, then tied it, then lost 5-3.

Am bike and stretch

AM stretch

Lunch yoga and frisbee. 6v7 on a windy day. My team lost 5-3.

AM stretch

Lunch- yoga and frisbee. 9 people, so we did some 4v5 and some with 4v4. My team won 5-3. Warm (upper 70's) and breezy. Mid afternoon, I went to a chiropractor. Hope it helps my back. he said he can tell I've got years of tightness to fix

XT and stretch. Donated blood, too.

AM stretching

Lunch- frisbee. 4v4 and windy, so LOTS of running (and lots of bad throws/catches). 30 minutes into it I was trying to figure out why I was so much more sluggish/tired than usual, when I remembered I donated blood yesterday. That explains it. Game was tied 2-2 before my team scored 3 straight to win it. 

Am bike and stretch

Lunch more stretch, then chiropractor. I feel much better after the adjustment, but that only lasts for a few hours. 

Lunch- no yoga as instructor's husband has kidney stone (ouch). Frisbee- 6v6 on an overcast, breezy day. My team was getting whupped all during the warm up. But game to 5 started with my team going into the wind. First point took a while, then my team scored quickly. Soon 2-2, then my team scored 2 more, the other team scored, then we won 5-3.

Lunch- yoga and frisbee. Only 6 people came- lame. It had been drizzling earlier in the day but was dry when we played. Lots of running with 3v3. My team won 5-1, then won a second game 3-2.

AM 4 bike and stretching. no time for anything else today

Frisbee. Beautiful day, low 60's, not much wind. 11 people, so 5v5. My team got worked most of the day, we just had some speed mismatches so couldn't keep up with 1 or 2 of their players. In the game to 5, I threw a touchdown and caught 2 more. However, Mitch, on the other team, caught 5 scores. Which is interesting since he had a terrible case of butterfingers on Monday and couldn't hold on to anything. We lost 5-3. 

Chiro in the afternoon

AM 20 min elliptical

I'm playing Mr Mom through Sunday, so probably no workouts.

Lunch- no yoga due to meeting. 11 people for frisbee, my team had the sub. 50 deg, sunny, brisk wind. 3-3 with lots of drops but then my team won 5-3. It was a bit stacked in our favor, to be fair.

Am bike and stretch

PM- chiro, then I did a 3 mile walk with Barry on the trails behind GE. We decided that since we aren't running together anymore, we can walk and talk. In the last few yards, we saw a black snake that had just caught a squirrel and was eating it. The head was barely in the snake's mouth when we arrived, so we watched the whole show. Took about 5 minutes. Pretty cool. 

AM- I finally ran. Granted, it was only 1 lap of the .68 mile GE track, but I ran. My back is starting to feel better. Lots of stretching/rehab

Lunch- 6v6 frisbee- warm (upper 70's) and breezy. My team was playing poorly during the warmup but killed it at the start of the real game, getting up 4-1. However, the other team scored 3 straight to tie it up. On the last point, I got a few yards heading deep after a turnover and Chris threw it long- I caught it a yard short of the end zone. 2 passes later, my team won 5-4. Fun day.

Lunch- yoga and frisbee. 60 deg, sunny, slight breeze. Perfect. 6v6, other team had a sub. They had one more fast guy than us, and we had a brand new guy. Not surprisingly, we lost 5-3. Then lost 3-2. Very fun, as always, though.

no yoga due to meeting, just frisbee. The other team had 1 more fast guy than my team, and my team had a brand new guy who couldn't do much (not making excuses, just observations shared by the other team). My team lost 5-3 (13 people, we had no sub), then 8 of us played and my team lost 3-2

AM Aspen biked while I ran 1.5 miles. Felt ok. Then we saw a movie together. We bought 2 MoviePass in January. I've seen over 25 movies this year.

AM- rainy day so no frisbee. I ran 2 miles on the treadmill with my back not acting up. Biked, too.

Lunch- yoga

PM- spent all evening running around fixing my wife's dead car battery that left them stranded at volleyball. Battery was still in warranty so I got it for free (sweet!) but the terminal was the wrong size to I made a late trip to home depot to buy something to jimmy rig it. Did it all in the rain, and auto parts store was 30 min away. Took 3.5 hours but got it fixed.

AM unexpectedly woke up early so did spin class then stretch. Chiro in the afternoon.

Lunch- beautiful day for frisbee- 70 deg and minimal wind. We played on the muddy, wet 2nd field to protect the germinating grass on the 1st field. I had some bad throws and a few drops. My team won 5-3.

Lunch- a regular run on the GE trail. Slow, but great to run again, even if I was a bit sore. 3 miles. Plan to very slowly build up to 3-4 runs per week.

lunch- frisbee on a perfect day. My team was a bit undermanned, but still had our chances. Came up short in the end, lost 5-3. Spent the afternoon with a college roommate that I hadn't seen in 10 years.

Frisbee. My team had sub, 5v5. We lost 5-3 and we're lucky to do that week. Definitely the slower team. We were down 4-1. Missed some chances too

AM run on the GE trail. I hope I'm finally able to get back to normal. 4 miles, 1 loop. 6 or 9 deer, 1 turkey.

Lunch- 80 deg day, warmest of the year (though not for long). 4v4 frisbee (crazy to think we routintely had 16-24 people not long ago). My team had 2 speed guys vs their 1, so should have won. We did, 5-3. To be fair, we also had the 2 slowest people and the worst thrower.

AM- Barry and I ran 4 miles on the GE trail. 3 turkeys. Good to be running with him again, and to be running again at all.

Lunch- hot day (80's) and windy. yoga then frisbee. 9 people, so we did 1 guy switching teams after the team with 5 scored. My team got whupped- the other team scored the first 2 points even though they were down a person. We finally calmed down and scored a few, but still lost 5-3. Drubbing. Scott and I were not throwing well at all.

Strange how quickly we've gone from 14+ people every frisbee game, and often 20+, to barely hitting 10 most days. I don't think any of the people were laid off, but people are under more stress and have increasing workloads. For example, another guy in my team is leaving. 2 years ago we had 11 application engineers. Now, we will have 4. I'm the senior most non-management AE on my team. 

Lunch 4v4 frisbee. Each member of the other team was taller/bigger than the person covering from my team, so they took a tactic of a bunch of short passes waiting for a bomb to the end zone. Add in a lot of bad passes by my team, and their tactic worked. We lost 5-3.

AM- 5 miles around ICAR. Pretty slow. I went primarily to see if the wild blackberry bushes have fruit yet. Looks like they are at least 2-4 weeks away. I'll keep an eye on it and we'll make a family night out of picking them.

Lunch- 5v5, which is my favorite number (either that or 6v6). My team struggled for a while figuring out what to do on defense but eventually got it ironed out. We won the game 5-1.

AM 6 slow miles on GE trail. 8:30-ish pace. 2 turkeys (one a Tom blocking the trail right at the start), 4 or 5 deer.

Summer is coming. Highs in the mid-90's starting tomorrow

chiro, yoga, then frisbee. Hot- upper 80's. The other team was stacked- 3 of the fastest 4 runners, plus 2 good throwers. They didn't do a great job on capitalizing on their mismatchs, and insisted on playing zone defense even though they were faster and we had a few good throwers to break them. One of the better played games in a while, a real battle. My team went up 2-0, then down 3-2, then we scored 3 straight for the win. Very tired after, between the heat and extra running as I was the main downfield guy for my team but also had to split covering their 2 fastest guys. I'm pretty proud of this win.

AM slow 3 mile run (9 to 8:30 pace, though felt slower). It may not be much, but it's my first Saturday run since February, and my longest of the year. How things have changed from 3 years ago.

lunch yoga and frisbee. 4v4 with a sub on the other team. My team had the fastest 2 people, but also the newest guy who didn't know what he was doing and no one to throw it long. But in the end, we won 5-3.

AM- 4 very slow miles on GE trail. Very slow. 37 minutes. I slept terribly last night, not falling asleep till around 5 am. 

Lunch- lots of off and on rain but nothing during lunch so we had a nice 5v5 game. Good battle, my team lost 5-4.

AM- Poor sleep again last night. I think I have less than 11 total hours over the past 3 nights.

I decided to run the GE trail even knowing it might be a bit muddy- wasn't too bad in the end. Saw a coyote right away, and 2 turkey at the far end. A few loops. I think 8:15-8:30 pace or so. Just under an hour, 7 miles. Longest run in over 2 months.

Lunch- 5v5 and my team had a sub. We had 3 fast guys vs 2 for the other team, though 60% of the time only 2 were on the field. We did a lot better during the warmup... so, per tradition, we lost the game to 5. Score 5-4. Good, even battle. It rained hard for about 5 minutes near the start, soaking us all and leading to slippery disc and quite a few drops.

Am 4 miles around home, 8:15-8:30 pace or so.

Lunch- yoga and frisbee. After a rainy, cloudy, cool week, it unexpectedly cleared up with sunny, mid-80's, and very humid. 5v5, which is my favorite number. Warm up was pretty even, but then my team won 5-0 for the game. That almost never happens- the other team had some unopportune turnovers, and kept getting mixed up on defense, often leaving me or others alone for long passes. We capitalized. Shut outs are rare, and (frankly) not too enjoyable. But more enjoyable to be on the winning side than the losing.

AM- I probably overdid it today. Wanted to run 7-8 miles. Couldn't keep track of time so did 8.5. All on GE trail. Saw 1 turkey, 9 deer (4 bucks with tiny antlers and 1 tiny fawn). But like I said, I overdid it and now my left ankle has hurt all day.

Lunch, warm, humid frisbee. 9 people, so we did 4v4 with sub on the other team. We probably had the better team but the game was fairly even during the warm up, though I think the other team got worn down a bit more. Once the game started, my team whupped up and won 5-0. We usually only have 2-4 shutouts a year, but now we had 2 in one week. 

AM- 6 slow-ish miles on GE trail. 3 deer, 1 turkey, and 1 large turtle in the middle of the trail. Fairly certain it was a snapping turtle.

lunch. It's the start of a holiday weekend and rain was expected, but we still had small game of 3v3. Alex, Jeff, Joe Trz against Haley, me, and a newly married Julian. The rain mostly held off. My team won 5-2. 

AM 4 miles around home in a drizzling rain.

No run yesterday- left at 6 am for airport, flew to Maine to meet with customer, got to hotel late then did some work till 11, then laid in bed awake until 4 am, at which time I got up and left for return flight. Upon getting back to SC, I went straight to work and didn't get home till 5:30 pm. So it's been a long 36 hours with no sleep. 

We did play frisbee today, though, even with all the rain over the past 2 weeks. Good game of 6v6, including 2 new people. My team won 5-3 (surprisingly), then we lost 3-1 in game of 4v4 (also surprisingly)

Lunch 5 on kinda muddy GE trails. 8:30-ish pace. Hot and humid. Don't think I saw a soul or animal on the trail.

Lunch- 12 people showed up for ultimate on a warm, very humid day. The teams were evenly split. Much sweat was profused, much running was done, many good plays were made. A game was fought, with neither team ever able to gain an advantage of more than a single point. The final point was particularly hard fought, with both teams having many chances to vanquish their foes. But in the end, there could only be one victor. It was my team, 5-4.

AM 2

Lunch frisbee. Only 7 people, though Strode showed up with his baby to watch. The other team definitely had better throwers, we had a bit more speed. Verdin alternated teams. The other team scored right away with only 3 players, then again later in the game, so they really whupped us. We had our chances but lots of unforced errors with bad throws and missed catches. I missed a diver into the end zone. I did have 2 crazy saves on defense in the end zone. Blah. Fun, but we got whupped. 3-5.

AM 6 on GE trails. 6 deer, 1 turkey, 2 people.

Lunch- frisbee. 9 people, so 4v4 with a sub on the other team. Fairly fair teams, though the new guy on the other team made some key mistakes in the game to 5, so my team won 5-1. Played another game, and my team lost 3-2.

AM 7 miles, sun-8 pace, first 4 with Barry

Lunch yoga then frisbee. Biggest crowd in a while today, 15. My team had the sub. We didn't split the teams well- my team had 4 of the slowest 5. We could have still been competitive had we played better, but none of us were throwing well, and we had several inexperienced guys who were clogging the cutting lanes. Game to 5 started and we were quickly down 0-4. We then scored 2 before they finished the game. It was not the funnest game and kind of frustrating overall. Oh well, still fun, just not as fun as normal. 

3 miles or thereabouts

lunch frisbee. Rained a bit on us. 11 people, other team had the sub. They also had a speed advantage but we had the experience plus better throwers. Frankly, I think we were a bit cocky, and ended up losing 3-5. I overthrew two passes into the end zone. I feel like we let one slip away here. Still fun.

lunch 6 around home. Wife is out of town all week so I'm doing my best to work from home and keep all 5 kids alive. So far, I'm being more successful at the latter, though I guess that's a good thing.

Lunch- 5v5 frisbee, my favorite number. We probably had one more fast guy so I would have been surprised if we didn't win. It was a tough game but we did win 5-3. Humid and warm, but not overly hot. My throws were more on point than recently, including a few long bombs. That's nice. I did let a catch slip through my hands and clobber my face, bloodying my lip.

AM 7 around my house and the local soccer fields, where a huge tournament is happening. It adds a bit of excitement to my run to circle the fields while watching the kids play.

lunch frisbee, hottest day of the year I think. 11 people, my team had sub. We won first game 5-3. Then we switched it up a bit with 4v4, where my team lost 3-2. I had shot to win it with a diving catch of a hammer throw but just missed it.

Am 4 easy around home. Hot. 34:30 or so- I'm pretty slow these days. Marci was gone all week at girl's camp, so I stayed home with the kids. I'd get the last of them down at 9 or 10 pm, then work late into the night trying to make up my lost hours, so it's been tiring. Last night, I went to bed at 10:30 but only slept 2 hours before being Marci accidentally woke me up as she got in bed. I was up till past 4 am. Even when I have time to sleep, I can't.

Taking the whole family to see Incredibles 2 today. First time our whole family has seen a movie together. I'm even getting popcorn.

Lunch- 10 people on the hottest day of the year (95 deg temps, 103 deg Feels Like). I actually felt good, though, wasn't bothered too much. Of course, I didn't do too many full field sprints. I played pretty well today- throws were a bit long at first but then improved, so I threw 3 of our 5 points. My team won 5-3.

AM 8 miles on GE trails, 8:15-8:30 pace. 6 deer, 2 people (the McConnaughhay's come running or walking back there many mornings). I finished listening to one of my favorite books again, In a Sunburned Country, by Bill Bryson. If you want a humorous and informative book on Australia, pick it up. I need to download some more good podcasts on my iPod.

AM- feeling good enough that I decided to start doing a few miles the morning of frisbee. GE trail, 1 loop. 2 turkey, 2 deer.

Lunch- morning doctor appointment ran over, so missed frisbee. Bummer. They had 4v4, so I would have disrupted the teams, anyway.

AM- about 8 miles (maybe a hair more) on GE trail. As I was finishing my first loop, Heather was just starting so we ran the second together and chatted. I don't often run with people. Saw 1 turkey, no deer.

Lunch- warm but not as hot as it's been, but rather windy. Only 6 people showed up, so we played 3v3. My team won 5-0.

AM 5. Very humid out, I was dripping. 8:30-ish avg pace.

AM- 4 miles on GE trail with Paul. 1 deer

Lunch- 8 people at frisbee. Hot- 95 deg, feels like 104. Not much energy, plus my team played poorly, including me. Missed a few catches, lots of bad throws. We lost 3-5.

AM- Ran 5 miles with Ken, Heather, and Paul on GE trail and track. Then Ken stopped and the rest of us ran till 6.2 (57 minutes- nice and slow), then I ran till 8 miles solo. 3 deer and 1 turkey.

10 people for frisbee. Other team had much better throwers and outplayed my team. Lost 5-2. Hot, but not as hot as the past few weeks.

AM 8 on GE trail

AM 4 miles on a cool morning (low 70's). Felt relaxed and pretty good, running just over 8 min pace. Saw 5 turkeys.

Lunch- 11 people for frisbee. My team did not have the sub, which is how I prefer it. My team was probably a bit better, and we won 5-3.

am 4 ez. Donated blood yesterday so I was particularly slow today

AM 4 miles with Ken and Heather on GE trail. 1 deer, 1 turkery. I also saw 2 female and 8 or 9 baby turkeys on the drive in right by the trail

Lunch- 13 people for frisbee. Other team had a sub. My team definitely had more fast guys, but their team had 4 good long throwers. Very competitive, always within 1 point. My team pulled off the 5-4 win. I had a near collision at full speed with Benson (who broke my ribs once), so am glad to avoid serious injury. I did dive once, though, and came down hard on my elbow, leaving my ribs a little sore.

The canadian geese had a huge party on the field- it has poop everywhere. Anytime you went to the ground you came up smeared in goose poop. Lovely.

My last game for 3 weeks. I leave tomorrow for 3 weeks in Idaho. My family has been there for 8 days already, while I've been home working and doing the honey-do list till midnight every day.

AM 7 miles around home. 8:30-8:40 pace. I continue to sleep poorly- 4 hours last night. I wake up around 4 or 5 every morning and am rarely able to fall asleep again. Weather was quite nice today- not too humid, a touch of cool (75 deg- I guess that's cool these days). Of course, my runs the next 3 weeks will be significantly cooler and less humid.

Am 6 around Ammon ID. Low 40s, coldest run in months. Didn't seem too bad though. 

AM- invented a big loop out of Ammon. The in-laws new house is not in a as-runner-friendly location as they used to live. Loop ended up being just under 8.5 miles in just under 70 minutes. Felt pretty good, but I want to be cautious for injuries. 

AM I don't remember what I did. I think 4 miles.

AM  nice morning run with Jeff Shadley. I think it was our first together in 6 years?!? Enjoyable company. lots of good conversation, and cool weather makes for my fastest run in a long time. Jeff's watch showed us around 7:30 pace for the first 4 or 5 miles before we slowed towards the end. 8.5 miles in 71 minutes. Great to see Jeff again.

AM 4 very slow miles around Ammon (9+ min pace). Heading to a cabin in Ashton with my family for the rest of the week so no internet or phone, likely.

Am 4 miles around the cabin in Ashton, ID. Dirt roads plus some ATV trail I found. Achilles is really hurting, though, so I'll take a bit off.

AM Achilles isn't great but I wanted to run again. 4 ez (8:45-ish pace) around Ammon.

4

5

4 in a drizzle

4 miles in Idaho. Last run here for a few years, likely.

Run around airport hotel before long trip home (left at 10 am for airport, got home to SC at 2:30 am)

Lunch- 15 people for frisbee. My team was outmanned (2 newest players)- other team even offered to trade to make it more even. I was pretty tired- it wasn't too hot, but very humid. My team was down 4-2 but scored 3 straight for the win.

AM 4 miles, 1 turkey

Lunch- frisbee. 21 people, so we set up 2 fields for the first time this year. My team won the first game 5-3. For the championship game, we were more stacked than the other team and had some very lucky throws/catches- we quickly got up 4-0 before winning 5-1. Then we did a final game to 3, where my team had 4 players and the other team had 5. My team was down 2-1 but scored the final 2 for a win. 3-0 day today.

Some frisbee at a church party

Ultimate frisbee 6v6. The other team was definitely more stacked, even offered to trade us some players but we refused. We did ok during the warmup, but I was playing H-O-Double R-I-B-L-E, in particular my throwing. It was bad. Game started and we were quickly down 4-0 before scoring 2 points to make it look a bit more even before they put us out of our misery. It was ugly, and I was the ugliest today.

AM- 4 very, very slow miles on GE trail (9:30 or slower). Achilles hurt, and just tired and slow. I did see a box tortise and 5 or 6 turkeys, half of them babies. I think that's the first baby turkeys I've seen in the wild.

Lunch- rainy day, only 6 people at frisbee so we played hot box. My team lost 5-1 first, then won 5-0. Final game was 5-4 win for us.

AM- about 6 miles on slightly-muddy GE trails at 8:30-ish pace. Felt much, much better than on Tuesday. Saw 4 deer and 1 turkey, no people. I enjoy seeing the wildlife right in the middle of town- it's a nice respite and a testament to nature.

Lunch- not a week to remember for my frisbee play. 17 people, my team had 1 sub, other team had 2. Lots of good players. I played better than Monday but still poorly- I dropped a beautiful long bomb, another touchdown, and had a number of bad throws (not as many as Monday, but still too many). Plus the guy I was defending caught the winning score. My team lost 5-4. Like I said, not a week to remember.

I often spend a few minutes before a game mentally picturing myself playing well. I haven't done that for a while, and I think it helps when I do. I used to do that before big ultra races and it prepared me for the adventure ahead.

Lunch 4 miles. 8:45 ish pace.

Lunch- 13 people at frisbee, other team had a sub. They had an extra fast guy. It was hot today- mid-90's, with Feels like of 100F. I played a bit better than last week but still had 2 bad drops and lots of bad throws- I'm in a bit of a funk right now. Game to 5 saw my team give up 2 points, then battle back on a very long point, then go down 4-2 before tying it up 4-4. We had our chances on the last point but lost 4-5.

Am 6 miles on GE trail. No deer, no turkey, no people, nada. I did see some squirrels and other birds, though. And ran through a few spider webs. 

Lunch frisbee. Hot again today, Feels like of 100. 5v5 with a sub on the other team. I'd say the other team had a bit of a speed advantage but both teams played pretty well. I had my first good game in a few weeks- no drops, no bad throws. Game was tied 3-3 before we gave up 2 straight for a loss. Hot.

AM 7 very slow miles- 9:ish pace. 4 deer, 2 people.

After 2 weeks, I finally had a game where I feel like I played great- no drops, good short and some great long throws, and a number of defensive blocks. The teams were a bit skewed with my team having a small advantage on speed and throwing (the other team declined a swap) but fairly even 7v7. At the game to 5, my team had some very lucky throws/catches (I'd say 3 of our points were off trash throws). We won 5-1 in a drubbing. 

4v4 for second game which was definitely skewed towards my team, and we won 3-0 ending with me throwing long to Strode for a sliding catch in the endzone with his wife watching. The catch of the game was Alex somehow snagging a poor hammer off the ground for a score- I still don't know how he caught it. Fun day. 5 degrees cooler, which is nice, though a bit muddy (we had 2 inches of rain last night in 30 minutes- it was impressive, and kept Zach and I from going to McDonalds before our movie)

AM 6 miles around house, 8:20-9:00 pace

Lunch- frisbee. 5v5, my favorite number. Not as hot as last week but still plenty warm. Slight advantage to my team (partly cause the best player on the other team was having catching and throwing issues). We won 5-2, aided by two bad turnovers by the other team near their endzone. I played well- my long throws were going where I wanted, and no drops.

AM 8 miles on GE trail. First 4 with Barry- we were moving very well, he was pushing the pace. 7:45-ish. Then 4 more by myself, a bit slower. Saw 4 deer, 2 turkey. It was almost cool this morning, 65 deg. First run under 70 deg since May.

No run, slept poorly last night and left early for amusement park with my two oldest. Note: I don't recommend going to an amusement park if you're a bit sick with headache and stomach ache. After 2 roller coaster rides at the start, I was nauseous and sweating profusely. I spent the next 4 hours lying on the grass. Finally joined in for the water park in the afternoon and then 1 more roller coaster, but that was it for the day. My girls had a blast, I'm just glad I didn't puke. Didn't get home till 11 pm, and promptly went to sleep. 

AM- felt a bit better than yesterday. Slept in a bit then ran GE trail. Unexpectely felt like I was moving fast and timed myself at 7:45 pace- wow. First run I've felt good on for a while. Saw 3 deer and 2 people. 6 miles.

Lunch- I wasn't sure if I should play frisbee as I've been dizzy and had a headache all day but decided to give it a go. Teams were probably stacked a bit towards my team, 7v7 with each team having a sub. Fairly even warmup, but then game to 5 started and my team dominated. The other team made a few costly turnovers, and our speed started frustrating them which generally results in forced/poor throws. We won 5-0.