Half-way Home

As of Saturday morning around 8:00am, I was half-way done with my 18-week training program. Woohoo!

After what was shaping up to be a crappy training week with a lot of distractions, I finished the week strong. I hammered out 7 miles at marathon pace in the soupy humidity before work on Friday morning. And then I was joined by my new crazy running partner Saturday morning for an "easy" 11. Did I just say that?

Well, it really was easy. Crazy, I know.

With the temps forecasted to be in the upper 90s with stifling humidity Saturday, the trails were crowded much earlier than usual. Despite sweating more than I had on any other run this year, we knocked out those 11 miles without much trouble. It was warm early and just so freakin' humid. At the onset of the run, temps were near 72 degrees, and it climbed to around 80 by the time we finished. Humidity? Well, it ranged from 90% to 84%. Yeah, it was soupy all right. I guess that type of weather is how most summer mornings are in St. Louis. We have just been lucky enough to have had a very mild, if not downright cool, summer this year. Perhaps it's divine intervention assisting me in my training. Or perhaps it's the calm before the heat storm in late August and September.

At the completion of my Saturday 11-miler, I felt damn good about myself. I'm at the point where running 11 miles isn't something I dread or wig out thinking about the night before. Heck, I don't even really care what I eat or drink so much the day before. But I guess that might not be a good thing. At least I know better not to screw around too much on those upcoming longer runs. Gotta respect those long runs in front of me.

So I'm half-way home. Half-way done with the program. Half-way to being back in my hometown: Chi-town, The Windy City, Sweet Home Chicago.

All that being said, let's take a numerical look back at the past 9 weeks:

44 - Total days running, not including my cross-training days

255 - Miles run (almost to Chicago from St. Louis... I guess I'm to Joliet right now)

39:15:23 - Hours:Minutes:Seconds spent running on a track, trail, or road. It does not include time for stretching, strength training, or cross-training. And the vast majority of it was done before 7:00am most days.

172.8 - My weight on Day 1 of this 18-week program.

167.4 - My weight after 9 weeks of marathon training. I'm down 5 pounds, but I yo-yo a good 3-4 pounds throughout the week somehow. So I'm holding steady for the most part. Still, this is the lightest I've been since age 16.

210 - My weight four years ago when I said enough was enough. What was I thinking/doing to myself (back then, not now)?

27 - Individual donations made to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital sponsoring my run. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

$1,505 - Total contribution to the kids at St. Jude so far - AWESOME!!!

It so happened that the half-way point fell on my 7-year wedding anniversary weekend. Lori and I got to celebrate making it to the "anti-itch" point with some of our close friends in St. Louis who have, no doubt, helped us get to where we are, both in our marriage and in our individual, personal lives. After 7 years, Lori still continues to amaze me each and every day and inspires me to no end. Without the love of my life, I am certain I would not be where I am today, and without her support, this journey would, simply, not be complete.