What a week, what a year!

Normally I do my long runs on Sundays, but this week was a little different, with the Idiot run yesterday. So when I met up with Chad, Chris, and Todd this morning, I was planning on just an easy 6.3 mile loop.

Today also happens to be my 44th birthday.

A year ago today, I weighed about 30 pounds more than I do now, and the farthest I'd ever run was 6 miles less than what I ran yesterday. A year ago today, 6.3 miles was a tough run for me. A year ago today, I would have struggled to run 6.3 miles at an 8:36 pace. Today that counts as an "easy" run for me—and it's exactly what I did this morning.

Last night I went out for a birthday dinner with my wife, and found out that I have no dress slacks that fit me -- they're all about 3 inches too big around the waist. That tells you something about how often I get dressed up, but also something about what I've been doing for the last year, and especially the last 6 months.

It's been quite a year. Who knows what the next year will bring? When I started training to run a marathon, I figured I'd probably run just one. My running companions tell me that once I catch the bug, I won't stop. We'll see—I'll get back you in a year.

Week in review:


6 runs
56.1 miles
2991 feet elevation gain
499 feet average elevation gain

That's slightly fewer miles, but much more elevation gain than last week. Next week I'm going to take it a little easier, with just about 45 miles, including only a 15-mile long run. Then things get even more intense.

Garmin