Time to post again, been too long

OK, now that my post-marathon break is essentially over, I think it's time to get back to blogging too. So let's see...what has happened since then?

1) My family & I volunteered at the finish line of the Flying Pig. Kevin, host of The Extra Mile podcast is in charge of a volunteer crew, and since we'd run the week before, we decided it'd be fun to volunteer. And was it ever. Great expereience. Plus, I got to meet Kevin as well as a few others guys in a "tweet up" before the race. Gordon, host of the Running to Disney marathon, Ed Marathon, Mark "Bama Runner", Doug "SweetDaddyD69", and Kevin "just_finish". We met at their hotel the night before the race, had a beer, and just had a great time getting to know each other. Great group of guys. At the race, we handed out finishing medals. It's a wonderful experience getting to see the joy on so many faces. Kinda puts your own running accomplishments into perspective.

2) The two weeks after Nashville, I ran a total of 4 times for 20 miles. Just couldn't get motivated to run. The rest was feeling good. Perhaps a little too good. Last week, I managed to get about 37 miles in, and I felt a lot better about that. This week will be in the 40-45 range, as I ramp it up again to prepare for Chicago. Training officially starts June 6th.

3) Susan is now signed up to run her next half, in Columbus, the week after I run Chicago. While I think she's a little nervous about already being signed up to run another one, I think she's also anxious to improve on her Nashville performance. But right now, she's more anxious to improve on her 5K times from last summer. We're running one on Memorial Day, with her 11-year old daughter Melanie, so no PR's there. But the following weekend, we're both running another, and will both be looking to PR.

4) I'm signed up for a variety of races over the summer. 5K's, trail races, might even compete in the "take-all-comers" track meet a local running store runs in June and July.

5) Cross-training has begun in earnest. Biking twice a week, strength training twice a week. Eh, it's not my favorite thing to do, but I know it's important. Gotta try and stick with it.

6) Trying to lose a few pounds. Not many. I ran Nashville at around 162. That's also what I weighed this morning. I want to run Chicago at something closer to 155-156. But unlike when I ran Cincinnati's Flying Pig last year, I don't want to lose weight as I approach race day. My plan right now is to be at race weight by the end of June, and maintain it. That's probably the tricky part. Losing the actual weight is the easy part for me. If I were really strict with myself, I could be at 155 in 3 weeks, no problem. But given it's summertime and it's just so easy to eat out, grill, drink beer on the back deck with friends, etc. I'm going to give myself until the end of June. Perhaps that's too much of a "free pass", but I'll try it. If I don't have it accomplished by June 30th, I'll go into uber-strict mode and just get myself there, no excuses.

Probably a lot of things I'm forgetting right now, but for the time being, that's a enough.

More to come...