Well, after pretty much taking off the month of September for training for the upcoming Chicago marathon (October 22), I started back with a vengeance yesterday.

So here’s the deal. I had an awesome training regimen going all spring and summer long, so much so that this summer I turned in personal bests for my 5K run (Nike Run Hit Remix), sprint Tri (Harbor Lights), and international Tri (Chicago Accenture). Then, after the Accenture tri, I pretty much took a month off, where I probably put in no more than 50 miles spread across 8 training runs.

OK, so fast forward to this weekend, where I finally wake up and figure out that I’ve got a short 3 weeks left before the marathon. So, how do I jump back on the wagon? Why, by cramming in my last 20 mile long training run that’s how! Yes, while it was slow pace (I’m almost embarrassed to say 10:15 miles), at least I did it, and actually felt pretty good in the process! (Prior to September, I had put in 2 17-mile runs + 1 20-miler, so this wasn’t my first 20 mile effort.)

After saying to my wife how proud I was to getting back on track to my training plan, my wife laughed and said it was just in time to start my taper. So I’ve 20 or so days left before the race, and I’ll definitely get back to my daily training routine. While I probably won’t finish with the time I originally was shooting for, thanks to yesterday’s run, I feel pretty good about finishing, which after all, was my original goal!

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