What's next?

My buddy Rob took this awesome photo
just before mile two.

Five days since the marathon and I'm feeling pretty recovered. I'm going to start running again but will ramp up the miles slowly.

I did run a little bit Thursday night. CARA and the Evanston Running Club are starting a beginner's running program and I volunteered to be a group leader. I was doing the level two beginner's, we did two minutes of running and one minute of walking for 20 minutes. I was feeling pretty good with that. I have a four mile run planned for Saturday morning and will get some miles in next week to prepare for my next half.

I have also signed up for two of the three races I plan to end the year with. I am doing the Lincolnwood 10K on Nov. 24 and the Schaumburg Half Marathon on Nov. 30. I also plan to do the Evanston Turkey Trot 5K on Nov. 28. That will round out my 2013 racing year. I'm looking at a couple of half's in January but haven't signed up yet.

With five days since the marathon and a little perspective behind me I am happy to have done to Chicago Marathon and finished. Yes, I had some problems but the most important thing is that I finished. The 24-hours after the marathon I was saying there's no way I will do another full, well, I'm not going to rule it out.

8/28 and 8/29 - Speed it up, shake it out

8/28: 3.1 miles: 31:50: 10:14 pace
8/29: 4 miles: 45:32: 11:23 pace

I had a frustrating work day on Wednesday. I'm a trade journalist, which can sometimes mean you're a industry hack, but that's not me. I aim to write interesting stories about the different technologies out there to inform my readers so they can make educated decisions.

What has become more of a trend recently is that marketers and PR folks don't want to provide an executive to chat but would rather provide email responses. These responses typically are so water downed and sanitized that they're not worth writing about.

So on Wednesday I finally get some headway on a story I've been following for nine months and they don't want to give me an exec but email responses. I was more than a little annoyed. That coupled with a couple of other minor things put me in a dismal mood.

What does this have to do with running? Well I went to the Evanston Running Club speed workout that evening and it helped me forget about my bad day. In the past I may have popped a couple of beers and dwelled but running was a far healthier way to deal with my stress.

As for the speed workout, it was 1600 meter repeats, that's four laps around the high school track. I knew this was the workout going in and was not looking forward to it but it went well. It was hard -- don't get me wrong -- but it was a good workout and I don't feel like I did that bad and I actually passed a couple of people.

Thursday morning I did a four mile shakeout run just to get the legs moving again. The legs were a bit heavy and tight but not too bad.

Friday I rest and 18 on Saturday. Wish me luck.

6/13 runs - and why I am loathing speed work

3.7 miles: 41:36: 11:11 pace
3.5 miles: 3713: 10:33

I started out running about eight-years ago when I decided to get some sessions with a personal trainer. He was great and I feel awful right now because I can't remember his name. At that point I had been doing the elliptical machine and weight working the big muscle groups.

I wasn't seeing results and having just gotten out of an awful relationship I decided to try and get healthy. The trainer put me on the treadmill, which I had tried a couple of times before but never really felt comfortable. He started me off walking for one minute and the running for 30 seconds. We did these intervals for about 10 minutes. I was hooked and other than some lapses in the interim have more or less kept running since.

Why am I sharing this now? I started out doing intervals and loved it. Now when I do intervals for my speed work I despise it. Just about every session has been torture and I feel like my overall pace is getting slower.

My speed work now is a one-mile warm up and then two blocks sprint and one block recovery walk. I'm wondering if I should mix it up. I can set up my watch to do times intervals and maybe I'll give that a try.

The second run was the Road Runner Sports Adventure Run. I had some friends there that helped push me a bit quicker than I normally would have gone. It was, as always, a good time. Though it was the first time I missed out on winning anything in the raffle.

I'm sadly going to miss the next one. I'm volunteering to help lead a group of beginning runners for the Chicago Area Runner's Association. The sessions take place Thursday evening's in downtown Evanston for anyone interested.

I will pass 300 miles for the year during tomorrow's nine-mile run -- that's what I ran all of last year. I should hit 600 with the marathon training but it'll be interesting to see what my total will be for the year.

A little background

In November 2011 I was probably 50 to 60 pounds overweight. I worked out, ran a little on the treadmill and lifted some weights but didn't have any results. My diet wasn't great either. It was obvious I wasn't feeling great about myself at this point, I can't find a picture from this time either.

November 2011, the beer was part
of the problem.

Right before Thanksgiving in 2011 I started with the now defunct Chi-Town Boot Camp, which met four mornings a week at a dojo in Evanston, Ill. This was a turning point. I purchased a Groupon for a month and have been with the program ever since.

During that time I have lost more than 40 pounds and 10% body fat. I owe most of the thanks to the trainers who have guided me and the support of my wife, Rory, all of whom you'll hear more about later. The boot camp program is fantastic. Every workout is something different and you don't have to worry about getting into a rut.

Working out has led to my diet improving and my drinking has reduced. A year ago I was barely able to run a mile and three days ago I ran ran more than eight. I've run numerous 5Ks, two 10Ks and while I'm not blowing away any records it feels good to get out there and moving.

Last August a group of my college friends invited me to take part in the Tough Mudder on May 18, a 10 to 12 mile obstacle course race that excited and terrifies me. I'm also doing a half marathon in July.

But the culmination of all this will be October 13 when I run the Chicago Marathon. It too is both exciting and terrifying but I'm confident I can do it. My plan with this is to is to chronicle my training and race results as I make the journey to October.

There's another motive too, I'm running the marathon to raise money for the Wright-Way Rescue, the animal shelter that Rory and I got our Matilda.

So, hop on board the crazy running train, it's going to be a heck of a ride.

Matilda cuddling with a toy she would proceed to destroy minutes later.