Vex-ill-ology

I really would have liked to have had an opportunity to snap a picture of our Sprawl Ultimate retreat up in Flagstaff this weekend. However, you see, the camera was inside the camera bag, which was inside my Ultimate bag, which was inside a large trash bag because it was pouring rain. So I didn't want to dig through all of that to pull out my camera and expose it to the elements. Yes, the "elements" - even though it was probably just 65 and raining, when your blood has been thinned* by weeks 110+ temps, that is far from comfortable. And when you're standing on the sideline, huddled up in hot weather Ultimate gear instead of rain gear** and shivering your arse off and watching thirteen*** of your teammates instead of playing, it's that much more uncomfortable. Not to mention you don't really feel all that much like commemorating the event. So I apologize in advance for this text only account of a relatively miserable, sick 29 hours spent in "Flag" this weekend.

* - This "blood-thinning" phenomenon certainly feels real, though I have no idea what the mechanism is. And, strictly speaking - since you're habitually dehydrated, and your blood is probably consequently more concentrated than normal - it should probably be "blood-thickening." Regardless, 65 degrees, soaking wet and windy did not make for a good time, I tell you what.

** - The forecast was for a high of 90 and a slight chance of T-storms at 6 pm, and I brought my hot weather clothes accordingly. So of course it started pouring at noon. Arizona weatherpersons, please try harder.

*** - Yes - despite my efforts to make sure we had enough people for legitimate scrimmaging this weekend, we had a few last second cancellations that put us right at the 7 on 7 limit and derailed our best-laid plans. I did not help things by fading out (see below) - but once again, the attempt to get our team going ran into an attendance hang-up. Hopefully we made the best of it.

The skinny:

1. I had a bad feeling about our numbers all week, but A, it's really nice of Griesy to offer up his cabin for the retreat, he was excited about it, etc., so I didn't want to cancel willy nilly, and B, we did have those sixteen RSVPs. Still, I went in with a nagging suspicion that the weekend-O-Ulty was going to be a bust, and so my better instincts told me to have a escape plan.

2. I got offered a free ride with Tom (who drives a gas-provided company car) and took it (against those better instincts) to save the earth /money and all. I prefer driving generally, but particularly with the threat of low numbers and my own grogginess during Thursday's workout, I really wanted to drive myself. Originally JD was going to come with me, but he understandably jumped at the chance to ride for free, so I reluctantly followed suit. D'oh.

3. We left @ 7:30 and got to the fields in Flag at 9:45, and as I started to get ready - a process that took a solid thirty-plus minutes, dragging as I was - I could already tell that things weren't good. Besides my fatigue, my hip and knees hurt, and I just couldn't move right. We were at 7000 feet, so I decided maybe it was just adjusting to the altitude. It wasn't. We did our warmup laps, stretching, plyos and warm-up throws, and the first thing on the docket was a three-way four on four scrimmage. I made it about twenty-thirty minutes into the scrimmage, feeling terrible the entire time, before Skunk sent a throw to me that I normally would have laid out for, but my body just wouldn't do it. I called the rare "Injury - Malaise" and ended my day right there. And felt dead pretty much the rest of the time there, too!

4. That was @ 11:40 or thereabouts. At 12:10, it started to drizzle.

5. My other contribution to Sprawl's Ultimate retreat was to throw hucks during a 50-50 reading / boxing out drill. It's probably not a good thing that I am so adept at putting up terrible throws.

6. The rain, in the meantime, grew to a pour. The temperature dropped to the 60s, the wind picked up a bit, and the rest of practice was spent in a bit of a storm. JD lent me a rain-jacket, thank Hashem, but it didn't really stop a sopping wet standstill sort of day.

7. We ran a six on six scrimmage, and I stood on the sidelines, soaked to the bone, lamenting my free-ride decision. Captain or no, feeling like that - I lacked the juice to even jog a little to stay warm - I would have headed home had I my druthers. On the plus side, we looked pretty good - lots of Plinko disc, lots of solid plays, and lots of good running. I'm glad the people who did come decided to bring it.

8. At 3-ish, everyone was worn out, it was miserable, etc., so we called it a day. It felt *excellent* to get out of soaked Ulty clothes and back into civvies, but I still just wanted to go home, an option I didn't have.

That was it for the Ultimate on the weekend - so yes, 4+ hours of driving for four hours of disc, or forty-five minutes for the Nyet Dogg. We got some pizza in Flag, then headed back to Griesy's Sedona cabin for an evening of goofing around and grilling. We learned some dice games, played some "wang" - that disc game involving tomato plant supports and red cups - and generally had a good time hanging out*, even catching Inglourious Basterds to end the evening**. I got to bed around 11:15, managed to sleep in until 6, got some reading done and then helped cook a little. Griesy fixed us all breakfast burritos before we jumped back in Tom's car and left a waste of an opportunity for Sprawl to get better behind us.

* - The main event of sorts, besides the dice games, was a ridiculous little game called "Ice." Guys bought a 24 pack of Smirnoff Ice, a girly girl's malt liquor wine-cooler kind of beverage, and hid bottles in various places in and around the cabin. If you were unlucky enough to find one - say, you opened the dishwasher to put your used fork away like a reasonable human being, and there was a Smirnoff in the dish rack - you had to chug it on the spot. I cited my sickness and bowed out of the game, but guys got REALLY into this, littering the house, cheering, even going so far as to put saran wrap over the toilet with a Smirnoff bottle on top so unsuspecting urinators got the treatment. We are a serious, serious bunch of unquestionably mature individuals, it is true.

** - My end, anyways. Other folks stayed up until the wee hours drinking, playing dice games and speaking in hushed tones that no, thanks for asking, did not keep me up. :)

So, not really the best Saturday-Sunday I've had in my life, though that's no fault of anyone - Griesy was a fantastic host, I just had yet another reoccurrence of whatever-this-is that just wrecked me. People were giving me a lot of "you're awfully quiet tonight" comments, which is probably more telling than anything; I was just zapped. obviously I'm a little worried - I thought things were getting better - but I'm just going to institute a revised plan and back way off the working out until Colorado Cup in a couple of weekends. The timing, at least, is good, as we're headed up to Denver for a wedding and then to Vancouver for a little respite for the heat, so maybe the R&R is just the thing I need. We'll see - in the meantime, it's back to school and making a renewed effort not to overexert myself. Wow, do I feel lame, but hey, our team turnout this weekend was lame, too, so maybe I'm just manifesting my assessment of our level of commitment in physical form.

So in sum: a disappointing weekend on multiple fronts, a relapse into mysterious fatigue (and the first time it's stopped me cold from playing Ultimate). Sigh. But it's just another challenge to do my best Velvet Underground impersonation and keep the Head Held High. Here's to pressing through, smartly, and not letting the basterds, inglourious, infectious or otherwise, get ya down.