Saturday, May 2, 2009

Intermission Over

That's the hope anyway. I've been on -- how shall I say it? -- an extended mental and physical "break" from running. You could probably gather as much from the time between posts here. Since my last update, I have logged 84 miles in roughly 11 weeks, which is a big drop-off for me.

Things are going to pick up, though. They have to. I've had a few moments recently that have started to nudge me back in the right direction. My lovely wife, Kelly, teasingly told me the other day that she liked that I was getting my belly back. I signed up for the 2009 Chicago Marathon the next day.

Beyond that little bit of motivation, I keep having people ask me how my running is going and I'm sick and tired of saying I'm on a break. Me and running haven't broken up, but we're on a break. A Blue Jays player asked me this week and then another person at work brought up the running again yesterday.

What this has showed me is how much running became a part of my identity and I have let it slip away over the past couple months. It's time to get back at it. I stepped on the scale last night before bed and I was up to nearly 175. That's 20 pounds heavier than I was last October! I don't look heavy by any means, don't get me wrong, but it's time to hit the path again.

I started this morning. Kelly got up at 6ish this morn to get ready for work and rather than stay in bed like I normally do, I got up as well. I loaded up my ipod with some fresh tunes while she got ready and after she left, I headed to the lakefront. Now, I planned on punishing myself with 10 miles, but I settled for 6 at a 7:57 pace with a brief break at the midway point.

My legs were singing as I wrapped up the run and I'm sitting in the pressbox at work right now fighting a cough. That tells me that it's been way too long since my last run -- 17 days in fact. Now that I have another 26.2 on my schedule, I can't afford to stray away from running again. Now is the time to step up the program again and get back to watching what I'm eating.

"Success does not cometo the most righteous and rigorously disciplined but to those who continue running." ~Amby Burfoot

1 comment:

Melissa said...

Good for you. I cannot wait to see you run again. Remember no blue shirt this year. I took pics of guys that weren't even you. :-)