Rediscovering this Blog

I wonder if anyone else has stumbled across this and wondered what happened?

Probably not. Probably just another example of the electronic detritus left withering on Web servers everywhere.

It's September 2012 now, and there's a lot of water under the bridge since last December. I stopped bothering with this blog when things started to unravel at work and my preoccupation with the marathon training had to take a back seat to more immediate concerns.

I did wind up finishing the Carlsbad marathon, but just barely missed achieving the 4 hour time goal. I was great up until around the final 5 miles, and then started to deteriorate. But nothing like my rookie marathon at the Rock'n'Roll event the year before. I only started suffering from quivering cramps during the final 3 miles, and had to resort to extended walking breaks during the final 2, which is where I lost time off my consistent 9:00/mile pace. Even so, it was a much better experience than the misery that was the 2010 San Diego RnR marathon.

I throttled way back on running after that as I tried to save my job. Layoffs were in the wind and I was hopeful that I could survive the RIF. But by March it was plain that nothing I could do was going to change the bottom line, so I started to prepare for the inevitable.

I took a couple of short breaks from running altogether while my front hip/quads were acting up. For a time there I was barely even able to run at all due to the pain. It felt like it was a hip joint problem, but it turns out I'd just suffered strain to the upper quad/hip flexor region, and all it needed was rest.

I started running regularly again in May, after being laid off on April 17th, and haven't experienced any hip issues since.

Summer could have been a nice vacation while I searched for a new job, but the severance was meager and I began to worry about finances sooner than I would have liked. The job hunt was not going as planned and my optimism was gone by the summer solstice. I tried to keep fit, but didn't want to make any race goals until I had a job lined up.

In the nick of time, I wrangled an offer and started work again on 1 August. I was out of work for a little over 3 months, which in retrospect wasn't that bad. I was pretty blessed to have escaped what was headed for a calamity.

With a paycheck back in hand, I turned my attention to running again, looking for a marathon target to set my sights on. I'm 5 weeks into a "Run Less, Run Faster" training program that I hope to mesh with a schedule that lines up with a January or February marathon. I was hoping to swing a Disney World vacation for the family and due that marathon on January 8th. But finances are not going to be recovered in time to support that luxury. So I'm leaning toward the Surf City Marathon in Huntington Beach in February. I'll still run Carlsbad, but I'll just do the half.

I'm feeling very good. Not as lean or strong as I'd like, but none of the nagging calf or hip injuries. That left ankle is still prone to tenderness (and I'm beginning to think it's my incidental kicking from the other foot that's contributing to that). I think I've got a very good shot at dipping 5-10 minutes under the 4 hour mark, and if I manage to do that, I'm going to make a serious run at re-challenging the San Diego RnR course in June and making up for 2010. I also might try to run the Marine Corps Marathon in 2012.

Not to mention, 2012 might be the year of the triathlon for me. We'll see.

I turn 51 in a few months. When I was 48, I was feeling 48. Thanks to running, I don't feel that way anymore. I'll never feel like 20-something again, I know; but I think this running thing is more than a phase. The appetite's been hanging in there for 2 years now.