Made the big time...

Sometimes it takes years, sometimes it takes months... we all dream about hitting it big and making it to the next level. When you get a break and it happens, you feel on top of the world. I've managed the feat once before when I won the Mr Average award at the Winding Trails race in 2007!

Yes, I was invited to play with the "A" team in Racquetball in the mornings!!


Note, while the above is a bit of sarcasm, I am indeed playing Racquetball tomorrow morning with the group of guys that have been playing for years. I'm really looking forward to it, it's been nice to have a regular game with Eric on Thursdays, and this will give me the chance to play even more.

The critical question??? Lefty or Righty?

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Couple snapshots from the past few days...

I did get in a nice long (56mi) bike ride yesterday up in Vermont, and then spent some time with the kids and my parents biking and hanging out in the hammock along the CT River in Vermont....

Here's some pics from the weekend, first my favorite sign during my bike ride!

Post ride recovery in the hammock with my youngest!

Took the two older ones one a rails to trails bike ride... lots of sand, so it was pretty tough actually. They also had some covered bridges, including this one here.

Here's my middle daughter, she's a trooper. She hung tough on the ride, struggling through the deep sand which took her down a few times. She's pretty determined though, and wouldn't quit!

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Essence of my trip to Virginia

Or at least the drive anyway....

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Crazy week planned

I'm headed to Virginia tonight with the family for a "vacation". The reality is that I will be spending the whole time in the hotel room working remotely for about 10 hours a day, but after that it will be fun!!

The good news is that once again I was able to find a Crossfit affiliate within driving distance and I'm hoping to get to work out a few times with them while I'm down there. My elbow goes back and forth, but the new strap that my uncle got me to brace it seems to be working much better. Hopefully it will hold up to a few workouts while I'm away and then I can be back at it.

To make the week crazier, once we get home this weekend we're supposed to go to my aunt's place in Vermont for the holiday weekend. Maybe I'll get a nice bike ride in though... hoping that Memorial Day is nice enough for me to head out for a few hours.

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More injury updates...

Wow, I can't even lift my arm up today without a lot of pain... guess I shouldn't have tried to play Racquetball last night!

It was a pretty frustrating day at work yesterday, so I wanted to get to the gym after watching my daughters Chorus concert. I was going to do a Crossfit workout, but most of the usual Monday night Racquetball crew was there so I decided to jump into a game. I ended up playing for a few hours and got to run around a lot which was good. The other good news is that even though I forgot my ankle brace I didn't really notice any issues with my left ankle. The sprain is almost entirely healed. It's still sore, but improving a bit everyday. It's still noticeable when pushing off, my power is reduced a bit when cutting or jumping off my left foot, but I can make do.

I'm rather anxious to get back on my bike, it's been a while, so it's good that my ankle has healed enough. It's probably better for my elbow to use the bike to get my exercise as well. The other good news is that I've gotten into the Lake for a Swim twice already have been at least running with the Track club so I'm not a total slug!

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Volleyball Season Ends...

Well... my volleyball season ended last night with a bit of a whimper. We lost the first 3 games in the playoffs and are out. It was a difficult match, we were shorthanded with 2 of our best players unavailable, and myself with a bum ankle.

Starting the game, we had 5 players with really only John and myself hitting... and I wasn't sure how much jumping I was going to be able to do. It turned out that I could move fairly well, but I didn't have much explosion at all in my legs and couldn't get up in the air very much. Then, halfway through the second game, one of our ladies took a spike directly to the nose and left the match... we were down to four players!

Still, we managed to keep every game close, we were within a few points on all three but when push came to shove we couldn't make enough plays. It was good to play again after 2 weeks resting my ankle, and I held up okay throughout. Every day the ankle feels a little bit better and today is no different so that's really encouraging.... hopefully I can get back to regular workouts again soon.

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Musings

Lots of thoughts...

Tough to get injured, especially since I don't seem to heal as fast as I used to. My volleyball season has potentially two more nights, tonight is round one of the playoffs and if we make it then the finals are next Monday. I clearly can't play tonight, but if we win I suppose next week would be a possibility. I've been mulling around heading down tonight to watch, and perhaps get some sort of a workout in...

Along those lines, I'm hopeful that I can back to at least some form of Crossfit workouts this week. If I get to the gym tonight I'll try some of the movements and work, but most of the Workouts have at least some portion of lower body involved. I'm not real stable with a weak ankle at the moment and don't want to have a setback, so I'm a bit mixed about trying too much.

Finally, it was nice to get track season started again. For the last few years I've been an assistant coach with our town's youth track program. Mike, the head coach, has made some interesting changes this year and I'm excited to see how it plays out. We had our first practice on Saturday and have about 70 kids signed up at this point. I suspect we'll get a few more, we've peaked out at 115 in the past. I couldn't do much with the group, but helped a little with some core exercises as a warmup and then stretching at the end. My two oldest daughters are participating, and I may get my youngest to come out occasionally.

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Injury Update

Since I know you care....

My ankle is feeling better, but looking worse. I've been walking close to normal on it now.

I'm not sure this picture shows the rich tones and delicate, subtle color overtones... but it's the best I can do!

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Big Ouch!

I think my Volleyball season came to a screetching halt last night... hopefully not my Triathlon season as well!

I rolled my ankle after landing on my cousins foot in an attempt to block his spike.  Considerable pain, and not much walking at the moment... we'll see how it goes, hopefully things will get better quickly.  The good news is that we won all 3 games and are the 3rd seed in the playoffs... the bad news is that the playoffs start next week, and I doubt I'll be able to play.

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Long Overdue

Lots has happened...


Less than thrilled with my Hockanum river race results, we were 5th.

Went 1-2 at Volleyball, not particularly good considering we weren't playing a very good team

Got a brace for my elbow, but it didn't completely help for Racquetball... I did get a new racquet though!

Leaving for Florida on Thursday! Hoping to get to a Crossfit affiliate near Naples.

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