Back on the Horse (But the Horse is Tired)

We had a looooong winter in Chicagoland. Between the cold and being a SAHD, my failure-to-run excuse bucket has been pretty full. Still, I’m determined to run the Chicago Marathon. I’m currently at the there’s-no-way stage, but deep down I know it can happen.

Spring seems to have begun in earnest. I felt thrilled about three weeks ago as I began to see the signs, so as part of my preparation, I jumped back on our trusty Bowflex to work on reconditioning. Unfortunately, four workouts in six days tried my immune system’s patience a bit too much, and I felt a cold coming on. I turned to my trusty Zicam, the miracle cure, and it kept my head nice and clear. The stuff didn’t do a thing for my throat, however, and after a couple days I was experiencing the worst sore throat of my life. Good fun.

So two weeks later, tired but otherwise feeling well, sweet baby boy entrusted to both visiting grandmothers, I hit the road on one of the first truly balmy afternoons of the year. Just a smidge under three miles, very slow, more walking than running truth be told, marked the beginning of my 2008 running season. Yes, I ran a couple times last month to start breaking in my new shoes, but I feel confident that the weather will hold, and the longer days will offer me more opportunities to run consistently. 26.2 is just around the corner.

By the way, I picked up some Brooks Radius 7 running shoes because my knees were starting to hurt in my former pair. Perhaps I’ll say a word about them next time.