Getting Back in There

So this has probably been the longest hiatus I've even taken from this blog and I've decided I'm perfectly ok with that. Really, this blog is a journal. I do come back and read old posts from time to time and I get a lot of joy from them. As of now, Leo is 19 months old and I'm still not back in top running form. It has certainly proved to be much harder coming back after baby number 2. I've had a lot of start and stops. When Leo was 11 months old, I was back up to 30 miles per week and running 10 mile long runs. Nothing that special but respectable for sure. Then we went on vacation and I skipped running while we were gone, and when we got back and the next thing you know I hadn't run in over a month. Ugh... Time to start over. I decided to pick it back up when Brian's sister suggested we all run a 5 mile race in Omaha on Memorial Day. I got really motivated because I didn't want her to beat me and I started training hard again. I worked up to 14 mile long runs and 40 mile weeks. I had a great 10k in early May and felt like things were going well. When race day came though, I had nothing. The course was hilly and it was cold, rainy and windy. I ran a pace slower than I had done a 10k a few weeks earlier. Also, it really stuck with me. I felt just awful and the next few runs I did were torture. After that, it got very hot here and I started on a nonstop run where either I had a stomach virus or someone in my house did. By the time I felt good again, it was so nasty hot outside that running just seemed like the least appealing thing on earth. It is hard to run in this summer weather but it is almost impossible if you don't get to acclimate at all. Finally, in July, I decided enough was enough. I pulled out Advanced Marathoning which has gotten me through my last 2 marathons and decided that I would make a comeback. I decided on a 24 week build up that would get me to a Marathon on January 11th and then a 12 week plan that would get me to another marathon in April. I went ahead and signed up for the Mississippi Blues Marathon in January and will sign up for Go!St. Louis as soon as registration opens. Leo quit nursing a few weeks ago so I have no excuses now and I'm ready to get going. I just finished my 3rd week of training. It has been tough and I've had good and bad runs. It has been hot too and I've had to either tough it out in 90 something percent humidity or run on the treadmill. I know that there is no shame in cutting back on running and no shame in never returning to my pre-baby form but I want to try. Marathon training is what I love and I am sick of not doing what I know I can do. Pardon my French, but I am through fucking around. It is time to train.