The Most Interesting Man In The World

In the last week, I have been going back and forth on whether to man up and do Ironman St. George in May. As an unreformed addict, I'm a bit lost without an Ironman, but I think one of the main reasons Ironman is going on hiatus is that there are other things I want to try that would be impossible if I were training at an Ironman level.

For one thing, it is high time I got serious about working on the craft of writing. I have signed up for a fiction writing workshop, and I want to put in the effort of writing and rewriting that it deserves.

And remember in my last post where I mentioned "professional obligations" that I ought to be attending to?

Well, some of you know that when I doff my cape and super hero tights, I take on the secret identity of a mild-mannered lawyer.

In fact, I am an appellate lawyer, which means I read, write and research about the courts all the time.

When I have spoken at seminars on the law and the courts, I often get "best speaker" awards and high marks for content and entertainment.

(To be fair, law nerds are easily entertained. We don't get out much).

And some of the marketing people at the firm know that I blog.

So, if you combine my legal savoir faire and my mad blogging skillz with my dashing good looks and razor wit, do you know what you get?

The Most Interesting Man In The World.

As if there were any question.

Or at any rate you have the makings of a legal blogger.

Or blawger.

Maybe even a blawger that lawyers and clients would want to read.

So, as it happens, the firm has asked me to start a legal blog in the area of my professional expertise, Texas and Federal Appellate Law.

For the last several months, we have been trying to set a legal blog in a fashion where it could be done properly, and it looks like we are about to hit the ground running. Very soon we will launch a law blog called:

The Appellate Record
Because if it's not in here, it didn't happen.

Consistent with my history of biting off more than I can chew, I intend to make that legal blog the most authoritative and useful and entertaining voice on its subject matter in the Great State of Texas.

Yeah, let me know how that works out.

I say that to say this. I am expected to post regularly to the law blog without decreasing my billable hours or my collections. And I don't think I can post regularly there and write fiction and make speeches and write scholarly articles and continue developing as an athlete and be a good father and husband all while continuing to post here two or three times a week.

Not to mention the fact that this blog has largely been about me, and I have thoroughly exhausted that topic.

So, while I hope that this blog is not ending entirely, it is definitely going on a hiatus and at minimum is probably changing its focus. After the law blog gets going, I have some idea that I might repurpose this blog as a place for once weekly posts to encourage and instruct the new athlete who wants to get up off the couch of doom and reclaim their life and their health. I might even start a fiction blog to write a wovel.

And I'll probably maintain this space as one method of shouting out to my virtual friends so as to arrange races and events across the country.

So, don't delete me from your RSS feed or your google reader just yet.

But, trigreyhound, as it has existed before, a self-absorbed blog focused on my multi-sport mediocrity, is coming to an end.

It is time for what's next, and that "next" requires room. That means, at least for the moment, I pause and put down my pen.

I put it down grateful beyond words. The comments I have received on this blog tell me that this blog has mattered to some of its readers. Some are better off for having read it. Some have dared do great things that they might otherwise not have done. Some have broken beyond their comfort zones. In that, I have succeeded beyond anything I would have imagined when, 603 posts ago, in March of 2006, I first said . . .

So, here goes . . .

It has been a great ride, and I prize the friends this blog has brought me more than you can know. Those I will keep long after this URL dies. A mid-life that could have been colorless and dead has been made vivid and life-affirming.

You did that, not me.

You have taught me how to be an encouraging friend, and if you find me on Facebook, I will ever be that still. There is nothing more precious than a true friend to walk beside you, and with love, I will always be,

Your faithful friend,

Greyhound