The Month of April

Environment: Farmhouse in Grace, ID

C1x

I'm very good at coming up with new features and improvements to add in this app. I like to think that I'll eventually be satisfied with the end product, and although it hasn't happened yet, I do think I'm getting closer.

This month, C1x got additional Deep Stats improvements, a completely revamped workflow for course management, PR tracking, achievements, and a mostly built-out social feature called Seasons. I've still got a little troubleshooting to do with Seasons, but when it is finished, it will be the only disc golf competition format not limited by location or skill level (which I think is pretty cool).

Drawing upon some of my education through SPARC, I've got a brand new C1x one-pager that is ready for pitching, and I intend to focus this next month on putting a bow on these new features and then marketing it to the disc golf community. I've got some rough ideas on how to accomplish this, but I'll really just need to get out of my comfort zone and have lots of in person and email conversations. Hopefully I can say at that point that I gave C1x the effort it was due, and that its success won't be dependent on any additional coding.

Project Management

I added another project to the list this month with PROTECS, and am now technically running four (4) different projects with them as the project manager, project engineer, and occasionally the superintendent. On top of this, PROTECS was told to vacate our office in downtown SLC -- an office two blocks away from where I live with a mountain view that I have loved walking to every day -- so I also spent a handful of days packing up and vacating the space (and coordinating with the movers) on about three business days' notice. It was a bit hectic, and all of the personal belongings I had in the office are now taking up valuable real estate in our small apartment.

SPARC has opened up applications for a second cohort to start in early July, and I've taken it upon myself to update all of our accelerator programming in preparation for this. It's been a while since I built out presentations and is taking a bit longer than I anticipated, but I think it will be a valuable asset to SPARC once complete.

I've also built out a new SPARC one-pager for myself, gathered some reading material for a potential VC arm of SPARC (maybe more on this coming soon), and otherwise continued oversight on the logistics of our cohort sessions + planning for our next big event.

Disc Golf

My disc golf progress has largely come to a grinding halt as I deal with a weird finger injury in my throwing hand. I haven't quite figured out what it is, but it seems to be either nerve or tendon related and isn't noticeable unless I try and throw a disc golf disc with some power, at which point it hurts quite a bit. I've been trying to rest it this month, throwing only short distances (200-300' range) to avoid reaggrivating it. I think it actually stemmed from overuse when playing barre chords on the guitar.

I've still kept up regular putting practice, and feel like my game will be in a good place once I'm back and healthy. We did a bit of travel this month as well (I'll touch on later), and during this I was still able to set two course records at a couple of courses in Colorado, both of which I was playing for the first time. My name isn't on the leaderboard because I refuse to pay for the UDisc premium subscription (because why would I? - I've built a better app myself), but at least I know that it would be at the top.

I plan on giving it another couple of weeks, and hopefully I'll be back in action shortly after.

Running

I committed myself to running a 16-mile pacer section of a 100-mile race that a friend is running in September, and I ended last month having worked up to 4-4.5 miles. I started a slightly more organized routine this month, going on a long run and a short run every week. The short run is consistently the same route, has a bit of elevation gain, and sits right around 2.6 miles. I've been trying to increase the longer run distance every week to see what I'm currently capable of, and finally hit an early threshold around 7.25 miles.

I've run this distance twice now, the second time feeling much better, and I'll likely push it to 8 in the upcoming week. My goal for the month of June is to push up to a 10 mile run, and also to stay healthy and not injure myself. I've also used these longer runs as a great time to make phone calls to family -- I figured as a pacer I need the practice of talking and running at the same time -- and this has honestly made the runs much easier as they go by much faster. Probably a habit that I'll continue well after the race is over.

Other

Michaela and I took a few trips this month, including a climbing trip with friends to Joe's Valley in UT, a Memorial Day weekend trip to Montrose Colorado (Black Canyon NP, day in Ouray, CO National Monument, etc.), and a short weekend getaway to a farmhouse in Grace, ID. Lots of miles on my car, but that's what it's there for.

Still playing in a sand volleyball league (occasionally two), keeping up with Substack, attended a few parties, and am starting to get better at getting together with people (typically coffee or beer) that I enjoy spending time with. I also cold emailed and had a call with an interesting design firm in Boulder, CO -- it's likely that not much will come from it, but it was a cool experience nonetheless. Also still playing the guitar fairly regularly (but no barre chords!).

As a part of my health kick with running, healing my various injuries, and also trying to sleep better, I made my first wearable purchase in a RingConn 2. It's been a bit strange wearing a ring, but it is interesting getting insights into how well I slept. It will also track my heart rate variability, something I've been curious about due to the arithmea I've had since I was a child, and my stress levels. Now I've got data to tell me when construction management is taking its toll.

Michaela also found a Salt Lake City "Coffee Passport" program for me running only in the month of May - $20 gets you a $5 voucher at sixteen different coffee shops around town. So, I also went to sixteen different coffee shops this month. Now that PROTECS doesn't have an official office in SLC, I figured this was a good trial run for where I might be working frequently in the coming months.

Onward,

Dylan