And Now the Fun Begins!

I have confirmed with 100% certainty that the orthotics that I began using in May were the cause of my last 8 weeks of sub-par running.

I ran about 27.5 miles at IMFL on Saturday with no issues! I also now checked that I am almost back to 100% ROM on my left hamstring. I am really excited now about returning to good, fast running, as I've got some fun things coming up for Thanksgiving weekend.

Oh, by the way, that "marathon" at IMFL was my 25th. How about that?

I just found out that the town of Schaumburg is hosting back-to-back 1/2 marathons on Sat/Sun of Thanksgiving weekend. But I am an idiot and didn't sign up for Saturday, which has closed. So I signed up for Sunday. And I also registered for my local 5K, Bonfield Express, that is on Thanksgiving Day. But I really wanted to do 2x2x2 (2-hour swim, 2-hour ride, 2-hour run) during the holiday weekend, so I will do that on Friday. Saturday will be a rest day ;) I hadn't planned on running a marathon that weekend, but I guess I will get a broken one in, huh? How great! This will kick off my "official" training for Ultraman Hawaii 2011!!!

I am still plotting what to do about change of plans since I am no longer going to Japan for an Ironman next year. I could spend some $$$ and get into IMWI, or I could do another NothingMan. I kind of like the idea of another NothingMan, since that would be #5 for me, only this time I would do it the week before IMWI which is guaranteed to be good weather, as has become a tradition!

I had so much fun at IMFL with my friends Brad and Morgan, and Brad's parents (that I'd met last year at IMLP and saw again at Goofy Challenge), and now I met Morgan's Mom, Melinda, that also does IM. Brad and Melinda raced IMFL and both set huge PR's, so I was honored to be able to help them any way I could with pre-race nonsense and also a few race day tips. I'm not sure whether I was of any help, but I sure enjoyed witnessing their race.

I began running just before Brad came out onto the run course. I didn't expect to be able to run very fast, but that was just fine, and I almost regretted that I'd run a 1/2 marathon the week before, but oh well, this was just for "nothing" so it didn't matter. Once again, I realized just how much a "just" marathon sucks, as it hurts and it was cold, and I just HATE the IMFL course--it's totally flat with just these speed bump things that are just plain ANNOYING. After doing 1/2 the course, I really wanted to just stop, and one of the other kids in our entourage asked me how I felt and I said, "like crap," which was true, since I had eaten a bunch of things I don't normally eat and my stomach was doing flip-flops, and my legs weren't quite in shape for a marathon. But I just turned and kept on going.

When I finished my marathon, I saw that Brad and Melinda's entourage (I stayed with Morgan and Melinda) had migrated to the finish line, and I knew I wouldn't be able to find them in the melee, so I began walking back to the condo because I was freezing. But that was just agonizing, so I started running again. You should have seen the looks on people's faces because I did have...um...race-ish paraphernalia on my body, and I was running more! But it felt fine to run, and if I had put on warmer clothes, I would have run another 13.1 miles just because. But, I'm still glad to have completed a marathon plus.

There is something else really special that happened over the weekend to Morgan and Brad but I can't say just what publicly--it will come out soon enough (tonight). They are going to crew for me at UMH, but that's not the news ;)

Anyway, I'm just really excited about having had some time off from work and a great time with friends, and I'll see many of them again in February at Gasparilla Pirate Festival to run a bunch.

I am still pretty tired today (I forget just how much a "just" marathon tires me out), but coming around and am looking forward to getting back on a bike tomorrow. I did swim today, which felt great (I never did swim in Florida--just didn't feel like it), and also lifted a little bit, so I should be back on my game in no time.

I am renewed about beginning some hard training--my body and mind are ready for it, and now even my legs!