um...is this thing on?

Hey.  I guess I’m back after months (years?) of neglecting my Diaryland blog from way back from when they were online diaries and not even called blogs.  Don’t bother looking it up – it was pretty awful.  This go around I’m going to focus more on the active side of my life.  I just became a new member of the Fleet Feet Cheer Team and since it’s all about the social media it behooved me to start blogging again.  A little about me: I’m 42, married, live in Chicago, and work a regular full-time job.  I’m at the gym about 5 or 6 days a week and I try to run between 30 and 50 miles a week.  My current goal is the Chicago Marathon in 10 days – this probably would have been more interesting if I had started blogging at the same time I started training because who really wants to read about the thrilling taper period before a marathon?  Better late than never.  I’m going to try to post a couple of times a week with race reports, training updates and gear reviews. 

I enter a lot of races and since I’m unlikely to place in my age group unless it’s a pretty small race (like really, really small) I have my own personal goals that I work towards.  For better or for worse for my marathon training, I’m running the Bucktown 5K on Sunday.  Every time I do a RAM race I swear up and down that it’s the last one I’ll do – expensive, oversold, cramped courses, packet pick up hassles – but then someone will ask me if I’ll do one with them and I can never say no to a friend.  I picked up the ‘goodie bags’ today and note to RAM – a goodie bag means that there will be goodies in it.  Don’t say you have the best goodie bags if it’s just a bag and a race shirt or jacket– I get that for any race I enter. Best goodie bag would have other stuff in it. I understand that with so many races being held now it’s hard for sponsors to get goodies to put in the bags - the last race I did was just a paper lunch sack with my shirt, bib, pins, and a sample electrolyte tablet.  I don’t do races for the goodies – they’re just a plus – but I take offense when the goodies are supposed to be a highlight and then they’re a let-down. Yeah, I know, picky, picky, picky.  I’m not planning on going for a PR at this race but you never know.  I’ll be trying a pair of racing flats for the first time – Saucony Grid Type A4’s.  Probably also a bad idea to try any kind of new shoes right before a marathon but I figure 3 miles in any kind of shoe can’t kill me. Famous last words.

I’ll be back on Monday with a race report and a shoe review provided my feet aren't covered in angry red blisters.