End of 2018 Beach League

I haven't posted about the last couple of weeks of beach league.  Honestly, there isn't much to report.  We ended the season with a perfect record...of losses.  Yes, didn't win a game all season.  Second time I've been on a team like that.

On one hand, I certainly did enjoy the time at the beach.  I don't make it down there enough, and this gives me several weeks in a row to go.  On the other hand, it would be nice to win an occasional game.  Is that really too much to ask?

LA Times Festival of Books 2018

April 21st, I skipped beach ultimate Frisbee and headed to the LA Times Festival of books.  I haven't missed this event in years, and I wasn't going to start now if I had a choice about it.

The day was pleasantly warm.  It felt like it was going to get hot at one point, but some clouds came in and cooled it off.  It was great to be outside enjoying the pleasant spring weather.

I got lots of hugs from authors who are friends.  They were so happy to see me and see that I was doing well.  That definitely made me smile.

The day's still not quite what it was.  The fact that fewer bookstores participate or are even around to participate is the reason why.  Still, I bought a few books and spent the time talking to authors, so it was fun.  Left earlier than I would back in the day, but I'm glad I went for sure.

And, of course, I got to spend the day with my friend Angelique, which always makes it well worth while.

Great Health Report

It’s been three months since my surgery, and last week, I had an appointment with my oncologist.  Actually, I’d had another MRI scan the week before that, so we met to go over the results and talk about how I am doing.

And the great news was, I’m still doing well health wise.  The scans showed nothing new, and the spots that had concerned them before haven’t grown at all.  He agrees my symptoms seem to be gone, so all told.  He wants to see me again in 3 months, but after that we will probably space them out more.

Naturally, I couldn’t be happier about this news.  I’m praising God for such a great outcome.

And Two More Games in the Books

Saturday was week four of Beach League, and we kept our perfect record intact, losing both of our games.  Not too surprised looking at my teammates.  We are the slow team, so it stands to reason we can’t win games.

But the weather!  It was glorious out.  My phone only ever said upper 70’s, but it sure felt like lower 80’s.  The sun was shining and there was a small breeze.  You couldn’t have asked for nicer weather.  In fact, I stuck around after our second game and finished my book on the beach before heading home.

Might not have been the smartest move, however.  I got one of my famous unevenly applied sunscreen sunburns.  Still hurts.  I’ll definitely have to be more careful with the sun screen going forward.

Week 3 of Beach League

We’re almost ready for week 4 of beach league (tomorrow), but I haven’t talked about week 3 yet.

We were at a different location.  There was a beach tournament going on, so they moved our location to be next to it.  I’m not sure why exactly since it wasn’t like anyone stayed around when we were done.

It also meant I had to pay for parking.  Normally, I park several blocks away and walk down, but since I’m parking in a neighborhood, it is free.  In this case, I was running late, so I had to park somewhere I knew I could park.  It wasn’t as bad as the lot right next to the beach, at least.

I wasn’t in trouble for arriving late since I was our second sub.  Two teams still had decent sized teams, but our team was very small.  For our second game, we were down to one sub, and we played the other team that only had one sub.

And, we lost both of our games.  Again.  I know, I could have just led with that and been done with it, right?  But it was a warmer day on the beach, so I’m not complaining.  And, at this point, I’ve pretty much given up on us winning.

Since we had so few subs, I got lots of play time.  And my hamstrings were very sore when I got up the next morning, so I didn’t play pick up last Sunday.  Still went out and enjoyed the weather for a little while, however.

Hamstrings Getting Better

I mentioned my hamstrings being a problem when I was running.  Not that this has kept me from running.  I have the Camp Pendleton Mud Run coming in two months, after all.  However, what I’ve found has really helped is soaking them in the bathtub after I run.  Between that and stretching, they aren’t bugging me nearly as much between runs and when I am running.  I definitely have to keep this up.

And I have been running.  I jumped back up to my 3.3 mile run pretty quickly, and I’m wondering if it was too quickly.  I’m really struggling to get through it.  I am doing a slightly longer run as well, and it is a struggle, too.  But I’m holding my distance for at least another week and hoping that helps.  I will be adding distance after that, but slowly.  I have a feeling I won’t be setting any speed records in June, even for me, but I am confident that I will get through the mud run, and that’s what counts.

Beach League Week 2

We kept our streak alive and went a perfect 0-2 in our second week of beach league.

And, honestly, the games weren’t that close.  Oh, they started out close, but I think the most points we scored was 6 to the other team’s 13.  We were down a few players from last week, but a few who hadn’t been there the first week were there including my friend Russell.  We wind up on the same team quite a bit, and it never really goes well.  Not that we don’t get along, but our teams have better records when we are on different teams.

It was also cool.  We’d had warm weather here most of the week with temps hitting the mid to upper 80’s.  As a result, I didn’t even pay attention to weather predictions before heading out, and I showed up to foggy, mid-50’s weather with only shorts and a T-Shirt.  Definitely should have brought my running pants and a sweat shirt.  I was okay when I was running, but when I stopped I got cold quickly.

Because we were down in numbers, I did wind up playing more than I might have.  I did okay.  One drop due to miscommunication (I didn’t think the guy was going to throw it to me).  A couple of times they threw it over my head due to wind.  But I also caught a few, and every one I caught I successfully passed on.

Not the best day of beach league, but I was at the beach, which is always a plus.

Beach League Week One

Yes, beach league for ultimate Frisbee started up this last Saturday.  And I’m well enough to play – at least from my surgery.

The Sunday before (a week and a half ago), I had gone to pick up for the first time since my surgery, and I played so long my hamstrings started to bother me.  Not sure if they are sore or what, but it made me take it easy on the sand on Saturday.  After all, running on sand is harder than grass or concrete.

As usual, we only played one game on the opening day.  We played pickup while the captains picked the teams.  I’m on a team I think I will like personality wise, but I’m not expecting us to win much.  Another issue?  One of the guys I regularly guard is one of my captains.  There goes one potential person to guard, and I need all the help I can get right now.

Not surprising, we lost that first game.  I think it was 6-13.  Maybe we got higher than that.  I played only a few points, and I did reasonably well.  I was happy about that for sure.

It had been cold and rainy last week, so it wasn’t super warm at the beach, especially with the breeze blowing.  I went down by the water to read for a little while but the wind was too cold to stay for long.  I’m sure it will warm up as the season progresses, however.

Keeping Busy

Wow, it’s been about a month since I updated this blog.  I should fix that.

Not that there is much to talk about.  Things are winding down at work.  We have completed our last close, and we are now working on transitioning everything over to the new company.  Then we’ll be packing up the office.  That last close was crazy, but things have finally leveled out.  I don’t expect any major crisis to come up from this point.

I’ve been getting back into running.  After all, I’ve got two mud runs coming up in June.  My longest run was just over 2 miles on Thursday.

Well, until yesterday.  That’s when I went back to ultimate Frisbee for the first time since before my surgery.  I played most of the time they were playing.  I was definitely getting tired, and then my hamstring started to bother me.  I’d injured it in the fall, and I had hoped that it would have healed while I was off the last couple of months.  I should have stopped sooner, obviously.  I’m a bit sore today, but not too bad otherwise.  Hopefully, it will heal enough not to interfere with my running and with beach league, which starts Saturday.

Other than that, I’ve been keeping busy.  I went to Glendale Centre Threatre twice in one week, once for Godspell and once for Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.  I got to see Aladdin when the Broadway touring company was in town.  I got to hang out with Dave Duron for about an hour, a friend I haven’t seen in over a decade.  And I visited my friends Luke and Sarah this past weekend and their new daughter.  All of them were great times.

Back to Work – For Now

My surgeon gave me four weeks off to recover, which means that I was back to work on Monday.  I was rather tired that day, but I’ve been doing better sense then.  It’s good to be back, although I miss all my free time to read and watch the Olympics.  I was watching a whole lot of the Olympics.

Tuesday morning, I had a follow up appointment with my surgeon.  She is thrilled with my progress over all.  She told me to wait another couple of weeks before I start any serious exercise again, so I have to wait to start training for my mud runs, but they are definitely still on the agenda for this summer.  I was having a small problem with one incision, but that seems to have been resolved now, too.

While I was out, my company was sold.  I actually knew this was coming since they’d announced it back in October.  The sale itself is what went through at the beginning of this month.  While I was out, they also announced when I and my co-workers will be let go.  So I am back to work, but only until the end of April.  Fortunately, I am well, so I can now concentrate on finding a new job.

I’m glad God is in control because the last few months have been very stressful.