Take Me Out To The Ball Game

Here we go, after just a little more than 6 years living in the US came the time to go see my first baseball game when Ron invited me this week to go to the new Yankees Stadium with David for their last game of the season...against the Red Sox! And of course, even though I'm not a huge fan of this sport, I accepted the invitation...it was still the Yankees! And it turned out to be a very nice afternoon where we couldn't resist shoveling down some hot dogs and fries AND, I even drank a whole glass of beer, thinking that it would probably be what would satisfy my thirst the most considering how warm of a day it was (what a feat!)
The only thing was that those poor Yankees got beaten pretty bad by Boston 3-7. I guess it was an awesome game...for Red Sox fans (aka Arlette and Lionel)
Thank you so much Ron again for this great day, I hope I can return the favor one of these days...

Ice Touch Rugby - Day of Finals

Nothing really new this past few days but here's just some pictures I just got of the last day of our touch rugby tournament this past Feb 28th. I hope we'll have as much snow next year because it was really fun. Surely extremely tiring to run in deep snow...but so much fun!

Winter Olympics 2014, Here I come...

It took me about 5 years until I finally decide to go to the mountains even though we're only an hour away.
So it was very exciting for me to go back on the slopes for the first time in 8 years and this time to try something new...snowboarding!
I went to Bear Creek Mountain with Massimo and Armando. Both of them were much more at ease on a snowboard than me who spent most of my time with my butt on the ground, covered with bruises! But, toward the end of the day I started to get a little better and was able to stand on my snowboard without falling...too much :)
I think I really enjoyed it and am already looking forward to going again. Maybe in a couple of weeks...

All Weather Sport

Every beginning of the new rugby spring season starts with our traditional tournament: The Ice-Turtle Touch Rugby Tournament.
We could not have a better name for it this year as we started to play this past Sunday with 14 inches of snow, leftovers from last week's snowstorm.
It was a blast to play in it, laugh out loud and have so much fun. Let's hope that it won't melt completely for this coming Sunday!

End of a Love Story...

Every good story has an end. Mine with that unique oval shape rugby ball came to its finish line yesterday. So after playing 16 years for Chilly Mazarin and 4 dedicated years for Union, it's finally time to put the cleats away. Of course it will be hard to watch the teammates play from the side and there will be time when I'll think "I would like to touch that piece of leather again". But you have to know when to stop and in my case this day is today. My last game came with some little fear as Daryn (my coach) made me play fly-half, which for those who don't know yet is not my favorite position as you have the pressure to basically conduct the whole game strategy. But the game started and it went alright. Despite the loss, it was a good game of rugby, with rough contacts, with courage, and even some nice movements.
When you hear people saying that rugby is the school of life....well it is all true. You get hit, but you're never alone, you meet the best people. Rugby gave me everything: lots of good memories, some less good. It gave me the best friends, brought me joy, some tears, pain (literally) and time to heal, adventures, and it even gave me my wife!
Of course you never completely close the door so we might see me around, running up and down the field for a practice or two. But indeed, this was my last footsteps on the grass, my last tackle, my last pass...without following it...

Rugby Weekend

Finally! You often hear that you have to be patient for anything. Well, we had to be really patient to win our game last Saturday as it's been almost 3 years that we hadn't won a league game.
History was going to repeat itself again. We were losing by 10 points and 2 minutes to go before the end of the game, and still 5 points behind. But we still came back in their half, with possession of the ball. On our last offensive we made the ball "live" and passed this cherished piece of leather all the way to Fa, our super winger. He gave everything (literally) that was left in him to score the winning try and give the Mudturtles the W we were all waiting for for so long! A big relief and a huge smile came on our face, a smile that had disappeared for too long.
In addition to this good news, I also heard that my old French team (Chilly Mazarin) dominated their opening game for this season and that feels good as well (especially after all the crap that has been said by some people about the club on the county league website!). Good job buddies, keep it up, welcome back to the old guys who came back, and of course, congratulation to my little brother for having made it on the A side as a starter...outside center of course!
Let's hope now that my two favorite clubs will continue on this road. Let's meet next weekend on their home field to find this out as both Chilly and Union are playing home...

Last Days of Summer...

...at the beach! Well, summer vacation being over that doesn't mean we can't go to the shore anymore. It is actually during the off-season when nobody's there that we like it the most, don't we?
That said, yesterday, potato chips and sandwiches in our backpacks we put the bikes on the car and decided to go down to Sandy Hook with Barbara for a little "Bike & Picnic Afternoon". It was just a really nice day biking on the trail along the coast. Something to do again. Also, thank you Barbara and Massimo for feeding us with that awesome meal for dinner.

Rugby Forever

Here comes another rugby season. One more, last one before retiring from it, promise! Between lassitude and being sore longer after games, you got to know when is the good time to say stop , to say "it's over". So here I am, counting down the games left to play.
It's been maybe about a year that I haven't played seriously and just feeling that little oval-shaped piece of leather gives me back all these sensations that only rugby can give me.
So I started to practice again last week with a game on Saturday. Sure, we lost the game but I found back pleasure and hunger playing with my team mates. 45 minutes in the game were enough though to wake up a little injury and it's on the side of the field that I continued to support the Mudturtles. Despite all our efforts, we did everything wrong enough to give Princeton a precious win as we lost the game 25 to 17.
Next game will be down in Monmouth with hopefully a better ending for us.
6 games to go.

Marathon Man

Mission accomplished: I was able to finish a 13.5 miles run or a little more than a half marathon and all that in 1h42min. I can now participate to a race and do it officially.
It's funny because not even 6 months ago I was saying stuff like "those people are crazy to run that much, they are crazy to go run that early...". And yeap, this morning I went out at 7h00 for a 40 minutes run before going to work...I swear it's true! I don't know how much I ran but it's probably something like 5 miles....at least I hope. I guess I should go to work running...if only they had showers there!

You got to stay active right ?! How would I do otherwise to keep that nice body and have 10 lbs of cannelés a week :o)

Run Fabien, run!

Running Man

Well, I didn't quit: I was able to motivate myself a 2nd time to go running and take advantage of the nice weather - wouhou! Results: 6.5 miles, meaning 1.5 more that last week but almost for the same time. But now it's my calves that are angry at me!
So here is the proof...well it's not really because you actually don't see me running but it shows you the roads I took for my run. Dad, get ready 'cause we're doing it when you come!

When I felt strong was when I passed someone on his bicycle! Alright alright he was probably 60 but still. For those that are interested the website I use to calculate the run you just did is open runner and it's pretty well done...just have to remember which way you went! There's also randonneurs en provence that is similar but last time I used it, it was acting a little weird. Anyway, you choose yours!
Wow, it feels good to feel back in shape.