I'm Ready...

It feels like just a few weeks ago I crossed the finish line in Chicago, ending yet another great season with TNT. It's funny to think that Chicago Marathon training is going to pick up in just a short 2 weeks. I've thoroughly enjoyed my time off from training...I've been taking it easy for fear of burning out in the thick of official marathon training. I've had a few nice and easy runs sprinkled here and there, nothing crazy (obviously)...of these, I have found that my legs felt strong, I pushed myself to run further before stopping to stretch/walk, and when I do have to stop and walk, it's for a relatively short amount of time...like 10 yards...if that.

Which is brilliant, right? :)

So tonight is our TNT mentor meeting. It's strange to think that we'll start receiving our mentees as soon as the end of the week. A fresh batch of excited marathon hopefuls ready to take on 9 months of training.

I'm just ready to get this show on the road and get running "full time" again...

I know Mike and I won't do any serious half marathon training until the weekend group runs kick back into gear on Feb 10th. Once we start waking up at the crack of dawn on Saturday to head out to the path, it'll be easier to find our motivation on the distance front. The spring team will already be mid-mileage for the CMM half, and we should be able to jump in with ease into their schedule for some of the longer training runs. No biggie.

As far as the Galena Triathlon goes, we're signing up this week I think. I'm becoming less and less nervous about the open water swim...and becoming a bit more paranoid on the hilly bike ride. Is it bad that the thought of hopping off of the bike and running it up the hills has crossed my mind multiple times? There really are not any substantial hills out here in Chicago, which will make training interesting to say the least. I envision the course being very similar to the elevations in my parents neighborhood...you're always going up or down...there is very little flat land. Brutal. I'll have to head over to Waterfall Glenn and ride along the half mile stetch that's uphill over there.

I'm just patiently waiting for this snowy crap outside to melt so I can actually take ye olde bike outside for a spin...and hopefully not kill myself with the clips.

In the meantime, I think I'm going to establish a Friday Night Lamers Club (but with a more clever name). You know...for all the area runners who have to wake up early the following morning to run their buns off. I foresee lots of movies, games, pasta dinners and maybe even an evening at Grant Park or two.

Any takers?

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*Gasp* I almost forgot one major thing...THE BEARS ARE HEADED TO THE SUPER BOWL!! This calls for a bit of nostalgia...GO BEARS!