this is how it is.

I haven't been running much lately. In fact, I don't think I've actually been since my run by the beach two weeks ago.

My ankle is all messed up. It feels like hash when I don't do anything at all. I'm scared to run. Sometimes I worry when I play frisbee...

I decided to let go of my pride and walk the marathon next month. Hey, it's something I haven't done, complete with it's own challenges, I'm sure (read: my pride). But I'll have Idaho out of the way with hopefully minimal problems with the ankles.

I don't think I'm doing the Wasatch Back Relay either. It's just not coming together like it did last year. After today the rates go up, we still do not have a full team. I don't want to deal with it.

So what's the state of my physical life? I walked 20 miles on a beach a few weeks ago. I've been swimming. I've been hiking. I play city league frisbee. Maybe that's good enough for right now.

Last day with my Tech team

I played disc for the last time with the kids in Lubbock. I'm really going to miss them; it has been a lot of fun. After it was too dark to play and we were all getting ready to leave Kyle (one of my favorites -- the one with the dreds) was like, "I just want to thank Anna for playing with us..." Bla bla bla. I thought that was sweet, and then I expressed my thanks for them letting me play with them. Then Kyle was like, "we should give her one of our Lubbock discs!" Everyone thought that was a good idea, but Joy was like, "well, someone would have to pay for it." Then Tony (the guy who's in charge of this whole operation) gave me his Lubbock disc. It's used and says "Tony" and "Lubbock" faintly on the back, but it will be a good reminder of my days of frisbee here on the high plains.

My hamstring is bugging me a little bit, but not too bad. We'll see how it holds up tomorrow on my last long run before the marathon. (Only six miles.)

2.5 hrs; Texas Tech

Texas Sectionals in Austin

It was fun. It was hot. And there was a lot of running involved.

So I took a little road trip to Austin, Texas this past weekend to play a lot of frisbee. Seven games in two days. Only one female sub. I'm amazed at how our women held up. We're hardcore. It's funny, though, because the only people complaining of being tired were the guys! And they had at least ten subs!

We went into the tournament seeded fourth out of eight teams. We held seed and finished fourth as well.

On Saturday we won our first game and lost the next three. On Sunday we won our first two games and lost the last one. I don't think my legs had anymore in them for a fourth game on Sunday, so it was just as well.

I think the heat really affected me. It was just SO hot and humid! Both days I was just dying by the second game. Like spent. Finished. Wanting to pass out. By the next game I would feel better, though. I don't know what it was about that second game, but it was a killer. Maybe because the first game wasn't too terribly hot because it was still pretty early, but as the day wore on my body just needed to adjust. Who knows. It was crazy, though.

I played a lot better on Sunday than I did on Saturday. I made some stupid errors the first day. But I wasn't afraid to lay out, which was pretty cool. The grass was a lot nicer than most grass I've played on recently. Especially in the morning when it was still dewey. I had some good D's, some good throws, some good cuts. It was a lot of fun, I must say. I'm glad I went.

Oh, and Austin is a pretty cool place.

Texas Sectionals; 7 games; 4th place; Austin, TX

last practice before sectionals

Last night we had our last practice before sectionals. It was a good practice. We went over some stuff--zone defense. We scrimmaged. I think it went well. I got a hand block, which are rare for me so it was exciting. I almost had a really good lay-out catch, which would have been cool. My legs didn't really bother me too much. I hope we do well in the tournament this weekend. We're going into it in fourth place, out of eight teams. Right there in the middle of the pack; just where I like to be. I hear the weather in Austin is supposed to be hot--mid 90's--and humid. It will be important to stay hydrated. I'll let y'all know how everything plays out.

~2.5 hrs; Texas Tech

swill

When I got to practice tonight I really wasn't in the mood to be there. I didn't really want to deal with the whole Don situation. And it seems it is always windy here in Lubbock, which means a lot more zone defense. Sometimes I really don't like playing zone. Especially if I have to play the cup. Too much running! And I never got to handle all day. Which was probably for the best because all my throws were swilly. Today just wasn't a great day for disc.

As far as running goes, I was just tired. I felt sleepy, as it were. My legs didn't feel like they could hold up to all the running and sprinting. Maybe I wasn't getting enough oxygen or something. It just wasn't fun. But my hamstring didn't really bother me, which is always a good thing. Oh, I did completely tank my ankle once. It hurt. But after a few minutes it really wasn't bothering me. That could have been bad news.

~3 hrs; Texas Tech

practice

Practice was good yesterday. My hamstring held up reasonably well. I tried to warm up better and keep it stretched as much as possible. I missed a few catches, which always sucks. But I do remember getting a few really good D's. There was some good running involved as well.

~2.5 hrs; Texas Tech

frisbee and running

Monday night I played frisbee. I didn't really warm up and when I started playing my hamstring was bugging me a little bit. Not a whole lot, but it was still noticeable and I didn't want to aggravate it further. So I left before practice was officially over. I had gotten a pretty good workout in nonetheless.

Yesterday I went running with Robert. He said it was about three miles, but I think it was closer to four. The weirdest thing happened. My left leg started hurting (to the left side of my calf) and then my whole left foot went completely numb. It was very odd. It was like I was running with a brick attached to the bottom of my leg. I didn't like it one bit. I'm not running today because I just feel like I should take a day off and rest my body. I was going to throw a disc around with this Don guy tonight, but that's a whole other story. . .

the disc in texas

I had so much fun playing frisbee tonight! I was a little worried as I was walking toward the field--I only saw a bunch of guys doing a drill. This surely wasn't pick-up, I thought to myself. I asked the guy that was sitting on the bleacher if he was playing and if it was pick-up or not. He was like, no it's practice. Oh. Practice. Then I told him how Tony had told me to come tonight. The guy was like, oh well then you can talk to him after their done with the drill. Finally Tony comes over and we introduce ourselves. He told me I could scrimmage with them after the next drill. So I put on my cleats and threw with the other guy until it was time to scrimmage.

This is what I love about ultimate frisbee: everyone is so nice. It doesn't matter where you are, what team you're on, or if you're a beginner, everyone is nice and willing to help out. Well, I guess unless you're in some big-time tournament or something. Which brings me to my next point...

They want me to come play in the sectionals tournament in Austin in a few weeks with them! They really need women and since I'm pretty good they're willing to practically pay everything for me to go. It's kind of exciting. So I'm seriously thinking about it. I might as well play in a tournament while I'm here, right? Right! And then I get to see another part of Texas. I think it could be a really good time.

There was only one other girl who showed up. So I pretty much played savage the whole time. My legs held up even with all the intense running. I did start to slow and get kind of lazy at the end but that was after like two hours of endless playing. The thing that bugged me the most was my feet! I don't know if it was the socks or what--they're relatively new--but my feet felt like they were totally getting blisters. They're still a little tender on the balls of my feet. It was weird, that usually doesn't happen. Next time I'll put BodyGlide on them for sure!

Anyway, playing disc makes me happy and I'm glad I found some people to play with while on Sabbatical.

~2 hours; Texas Tech ultimate

The few days leading up to my best half marathon ever.

On Wednesday I played frisbee. It was, of course, pretty secret and not a whole lot of people came. I think we had like four on three or something. Netti and I both didn't really want to be there and were a little ornary. It was funny because Don left the full field even though we only had a few people. Netti and I kept sneaking the endzone cones up after each point. Don finally noticed and we all had a good laugh.

On Thursday I went running. It was a good break from packing up my life. I needed to get out there. I got out the door around 9 o'clock. It's probably a little late to be out there by myself because it's pretty dark at that time these days. I ran all the way out to 2100 South and stopped at Smith's to get a drink. I got sketched out by this guy sitting in his truck. I thought for sure he was going to follow me home and try and kill me or something. Don't worry, he didn't. He was probably just a nice old guy sitting in his beater truck waiting for his wife to pick up some eggs at the grocery store.

On the way back I ran into Karla Hoggard. She was running in the opposite direction, toward her house. As soon as we both realized who the other one was we stopped and chatted for a minute. She told me about the fifteen mile run her club was doing that saturday, but I was already comitted to the Hobble Creek Half Marathon.

I felt pretty strong on my run. It's always a good feeling to get a strong five mile run in.

disc at bryant; five miles on 9th east

Frisbee

Disc was pretty good last night. I wasn't too sore and was running well. I guess the tournament motivated me to actually want to run hard, because I didn't start to get lazy until the very end when I was convincing Tori to move into the cool house with us.

My hamstrings didn't really hurt, which is good. I don't remember any other noticeable aches and pains either. My body is pretty random sometimes.

3 games; Bryant

My week:

Monday: Frisbee.

Tuesday: Running on 800 East. Four miles?

Wednesday: Secret Frisbee.

Saturday: Park City Ultimate Frisbee Tournament. Four games. Lots of running. Played some dang good teams. Played some not as good teams. Managed to lose all of them. I was a handler all day.

Sunday: Second day of the tournament. Played two games. More handling. Actually won the last game. It was Fred's first tournament win; very exciting. Had one good D, ran hard, played well both days. (Except one endzone play coming off a time-out where I was supposed to cut to the break-mark side but didn't because I confused myself) I was told that I should think about trying out for one of the club teams in Salt Lake. I'm good, I can run, and they can always use women. I'm not sure I want to get that serious about it.

super secret wednesdays = throw practice

so pretty much only five people showed up on Wednesday. I actually knew a lot of people weren't going to make it so I came prepared. I didn't even bring my cleats and just went on a little run over there. I took a long route to get more of a workout in. By the time I got to the field only Shannon and Melissa were there. We started throwing a disc around.

It turned out to be a good night for the girls who came. We spent a lot of time throwing and catching. It will help their game. I think it's hard to really get the basics down in the high-pressure situation of a game. Not that disc at Bryant is that high-pressure. It's actually pretty chill and swilly, if you ask me.

But anyway, I ran home afterward.

One thing I noticed on my run over there was my throat was really dry. That's a sign that I'm maybe getting sick, because I'd been hydrating all day. I've been taking it easy these past couple days. I'm still planning on going on a long run tomorrow. I just haven't decided if it's going to be 14 or just 10. I guess we'll see how I feel in the morning.

Throw practice; Bryant

disc

I went to monday night frisbee last night and Aaron Stringer made the comment that maybe all the jerks starting playing somewhere else... maybe they've formed their own secret frisbee??? Because lately things have calmed down quite a bit. The numbers are manageable and it's really a lot of fun.

The only problem with last night's game was that I had eaten a lot of food at FHE, as I like to do sometimes, and it made it really hard to run. So I didn't run. Not that much anyway. I felt completely lazy and apathetic, but that's nothing new.

My legs held up well, though. We played three games and I think my team lost all of them. But I had fun and that's all that matters.

3 games of disc; Bryant

Mysterious injury--gone.

Okay, so I played secret frisbee last night and my mysterious pain was gone. I have no idea what's going on with my body these days. Seriously.

SF was fun. Only about ten people showed up. We played two games. I was a little worried in the beginning that nobody would show up; Don, Shannon, Melissa, and I had to resort to playing two on two. That's not the most effective way to play ultimate. Everyone knows who you're going to throw to! Finally Freddie came and other people started showing up.

I was able to run last night with no problems. That's a good sign.

Secret Wednesday; Bryant

I'm broken.

I played frisbee monday night and everything seemed fine. Though I can't remember now what my aches and pains were, if any.

Yesterday I noticed that my right shoulder hurt. It took me a while to realize that it was from throwing a softball around with Don at FHE on Monday. It turns out I don't make that motion very often. Who knew.

I also noticed that my left leg was hurting. I don't know if it would technically be classified as my hamstring, it seems that it's too far up the leg for that. If anyone out there has taken an anatomy class recently and would know this, please drop me a comment. This has been baffling me for days now. (Two to be exact.) Basically it seems it would be the opposite of your hip flexor--your butt flexor, perhaps? It's the connector between the butt cheek and the upper thigh. I didn't even notice until I had been laying on the couch, exhausted, for hours. It felt like I had pulled it or something, but it wasn't too bad so I didn't worry too much about it.

Last night I went running. I was worried that my run was going to be wasted on dollar burgers and zuchinni fries. It had been stormy all evening--we're talking a good summer storm with hard driving rain and lightning--so the air was grey and cool. Perfect running weather. But I was still feeling the effects of my trip to B&D Burgers earlier that afternoon. Once I got into the run I started feeling better.

There was something in the air, though. Maybe it was the mood of the darkening sky, or the electricity in the air, but I was starting to get sketched out! There were too many dog walkers and people out and about. I didn't feel safe. So I turned around earlier then I probably would have and ran up to 9th East where it was better lighted. I feel like I was booking it pretty hard. It reminded me of that run I did a few years ago on Davis Boulevard. It was dark and it had been raining. As I was passing one of the reseviours there was a man walking the other direction with what looked like a big club. I thought for sure I was going to be hit to death in the darkness. It turns out it was just the guy's umbrella, but I still ran home faster than I ever had before. It was scary.

This morning as I was walking from the train to work I noticed that the pain in my leg had gotten worse. It feels like a totally new pain. It has moved from a pain in the muscle to the feeling of bone rubbing out of socket, or something like that. It hurts to walk. That's all I know. So now I'm gimping around, wondering what happened. Hopefully I'll be better by tonight to play some secret, or unsecret as some might say, frisbee. Everybody pray for me and my mysterious injuries.

Unsecret frisbee

We had a good turnout for secret frisbee last night. I quite enjoyed myself. My hamstring didn't hurt, though I did tank my right ankle on one run. At least it didn't take me out of the game or anything. I just tried to shake it off and stretch it a bit between points. I feel like I played well last night. It was just fun. I think we played three games--two with the same teams and then the last one we switched things up a bit. Or was it four games? I think I was on the winning team for all of them, though. I had some nice grabs. I'm going to miss this crowd when I'm gone.

Tonight's probably the last night of league for Team America as well. We start the tournament and we'll probably lose two straight games. Too bad we probably wont get to play our rivals. I'm going to miss that crowd too.

~2 hours; Bryant

Still tied for worst team in the league

Last night we played the last games of regular season play for Summer League. We lost both games. But so did our rivals, the Blue team. I guess that means we're still tied.

Yesterday was interesting. I was already exhausted from a hard day at Club Ute, and playing in the extreme evening heat did me in. I could barely function! I still tried to play my best and run hard. I did get an awesome D in the first game. That made me feel better. We played our second game right afterward and I feel we played a little better. Suddenly some wind picked up and it forced an occasional zone defense. I played in the cup for one point and was so exhausted from all the running that I wanted to die. It felt like a long point. When I was handling on the zone offense, though I feel I was getting some good throws off. I was complimented by Arie afterward, she told my I was really handling well. That made me feel better about the game.

I think I was just tired and a little grumpy. Mostly just tired. We got to sit and watch Don, Shannon and Fred's game and then went out to dinner. I was hungry, but honestly too tired to eat all my food. I went home and practically fell asleep on the couch while talking to my roommates, Tori and Rhonda. Overall, the night was still fun. I just can't take this heat anymore!

2 games of Summer League

Secrets...

So Wednesday was a lot of fun. I think we had enough for 5 on 5 or so. I made sure I ran pretty slowly in the beginning as to not injur my hamstring anymore than I already have. I think it held up pretty well. It was my IT Band that was bothering me this time. We played two good games to 7 and then one quick one to 3. We had popsicles at Christian Sabey's afterwards. It was fun.

A couple of hours of good ultimate; Bryant

A hamstring update

I played Monday night and to my surprise and astonishment my right hamstring didn't really bother me. Maybe it was because I started out pretty mellow without any real hard cutting, but as the night progressed my hammy didn't get any worse either. Maybe it was a Monday night miracle! My hamstring didn't hurt last thursday either, and I was running pretty hard and cutting a lot. Maybe things are on the up and up? I guess as long as I give myself a little time to warm-up before I play things could actually start to heal. I'm playing secret frisbee tonight so we'll see how it holds up.

It's gotta be the rally headband!

City league was so much stinkin' fun last night! It was so bloody hot and we had the first game. Luckily we were on the first field and it was a little shaded by the ice skating rink. Okay, so the first game was horrible. Our team could not catch or throw. We had a few moments of flow, but basically it was just really embarrassing. I guess that's what you get when you're tied for worst team in the league.

The second game was a lot of fun. We played Don and Shannon's team (there's only five teams in the league, so we play the same teams a lot) and our record was 1-1 against them. They claim the reason they lost the last game to us was because their "advanced" player wasn't there. Well, he was there last night, skirt and all (it's a frisbee thing) and we still beat them! It was amazing!!

We went into it losing. They got up a few points on us until we started scoring. I think the game really turned around when Aaron the dream Weaver started making some hot D's and our team just came alive. I made some sweet points. One was beautiful. The point started out with some sweet flow down the field. Cuts timed perfectly. This one guy on my team (I still don't know have of their names--how sad is that?!) caught the frisbee, we made eye contact, and I took off for the endzone totally blowing off my defender, Shannon. He hucked it and it was a beautiful disc to run down for the score. I love moments like that. I also had some good D's. It was just fun.

The end of the game was pretty intense too. The score was very close when the time cap was called. They scored again to finish off that point making the game tied. The next point won. Luckily, it was us.

2 games of city league fun!