I am a case study for what work stress does to you physically. Ever since last June, when my company announced they were selling the business, over half the company was laid off or quit. This included my team, who are almost guaranteed continuation of their job in the purchasing company – I went from 15 to 4 people at one point. Losing people is stressful – like losing friends and covering the workload while doing extra work of hiring while training the new folks while keeping the fleet afloat has almost broken me.

It did break me, prior to the Grand Turk Scuba Vacation from May 29-June 12, I spent the week lying in a chair after work unable to move because all of my joints hurt so bad. I could barely finish 3 miles and was just exhausted.

The picture above is me floating in this beautiful water with my head empty – just what I needed for two weeks.

I came back and it took two weeks to fall back into a bad situation beginning of July. On the 17th, we had an NEC outing at Stonecow brewery and a trail running friend mentioned Mt. Greylock half marathon in mid August. That gave me a goal I wanted to meet.

The week of the 19th, I called my boss, the CEO etc to make sure they knew I was not doing well and just decided to take random days off for mental health. I am choosing me.

Starting July 25, I ran skyline, a terrible 13.5 mile, 6+ hr, 3600′ elevation trail to gain some confidence. On my birthday a few days later, I climbed Washington, 10 miles 6+ hr, 3900′ elevation and on the following Sunday I ran Mt Garfield 10 miles, 3.5 hr 3000′ elevation. I am hoping I am back and feeling better 🙂 I know I can do Greylock without issue now

Longest year ever. Also demonstrates the importance of intermediate goals to make sure you have something you’re afraid of to motivate you.