I'm baaaaaaaaack!

It's been a while. How you been?

Sorry for long absence, but I have been struggling to bring closure to Chicago 08. Long story, but at the end of the day, I experienced the runner's blues hard after the marathon last year. Didn't run for over 3 months and wasn't able to bring myself to finish my journey. Something was left undone and it took me a while to sort it out. Not going to bore you with the details, but deep down, I was disappointed in my marathon performance. Don't get me wrong, the experience was brilliant, but my performance was bad. Hit the wall at 15 miles and struggled mentally and physically the rest of the way. Did I finish? Yes. Am I too hard on myself? Yes. Am I proud of myself? Hell Yes. Am I satisfied? No. So what's a guy to do? Obviously, gotta to do it again! My mantra this year is "At least he never walked" and my goal is to walk water stations only. "At least he never walked" is a late chapter in Haruki Murakami's memoir, "What I talk about when I talk about running." Brilliant author. Must read book for runners and non-runners alike.

Yesterday, I enjoyed many smiles and tears reading back through my blog, including finding the partial draft of my post from the day after. I have posted it as I found it. No way to recapture now the emotion that I was writing with then. I do owe a shout out to all those who came out last year to cheer me on. The fam, Time, Jen and the girls, Kim, Kieran and Liesl, The Consoles, The Piaskowys, Jen, Jillian, Matt, Claudia, Em, Robert, Red, et al. I know I'm forgetting someone. And to Hill and Pete who ran as well....This year is a totally different journey and the joy and pain of a first timer is missing. I'm not a pro, but I have experience now, so there is no unknown. There is no "first time to xx miles" which helps in managing the process, which, I guess, is what it is now, a process, not an experience. Hard to describe. It's not that I'm not having fun or enjoying milestones, it's just different.

5 weeks until the marathon and my training has been almost non-existent. I'm hitting my long runs, but not making the short ones. Need to get focused and have a good September on the road.

I am running this year for Team Fox in support of the Michael J. Fox foundation for Joe Stever, my father in law, who is living with Parkinson's disease. Joe is one of the most brilliant and positive people I know. Despite the challenge of living with PD, Joe is Joe. Always looking for the answer, glass is always half full and he still thinks he's a comedian. The new picture is Papa Joe and the kids last summer. I will be posting some information on PD and some perspective on living with it from Joe and Darryl Hill (Shirley, his wife and my brother's mother in law is living with PD in MN). It's funny running in the name of someone who is living as the terms used in fund raising efforts often indicate that the person has passed. I catch myself saying "In memory of" or "In the name of" when referring to the run. It's odd....

OK, enough for now. Have a great labor day.