5 - A Big Return

Another month has flown by.  With Christmas, New Year’s Day, managing budget mayhem at work, and starting back to school 3 nights a week it’s been a whirlwind.  But I’ve also made a big return to running as well.  My wife, Anissa, is signed up to run the Cincinnati Flying Pig full marathon in early May.  I’ve been doing my best to keep up with her on training.  She really wants me to run the marathon with her, but I’ve been concerned I don’t have the time to put in the required training.  I know how long it takes to do all the miles every week, on top of constantly washing workout clothes, recovering from the really long runs, and making sure I take the time to cook meals throughout the week to keep the right fuel in my body.  However, I’ve managed to find some balance with it all.  We are eating much better during the week, we do our long runs early on Sunday morning, and a few nights a week I going to the gym after I get home from class around 9:30pm to sneak in my shorter runs.  It makes for a very long day (especially since I get to work around 7-7:30am to compensate for leaving early for class).  But the last 4 weeks have been very rewarding.  We’ve run 89 miles in 4 weeks, including our longest yet which was 11 miles this morning.  As I hindsight these weeks, I am very happy and proud.  Anissa and I have come a long way with cooking more at home, and we are FINALLY back into a solid workout routine.  As I reflected on the past month, I decided I could make the jump.  I can find the balance.  And I will do the marathon with her.  So look out world, I will be running my 5^th marathon on May 3^rd in Cincinnati with my wife by my side.  I’m a happy and very lucky guy!