Hey everyone, how are you doing?  Yes, I'm finally back.  Has continued to be a tough year for me and I lost my oldest brother in Feb after only two weeks of finding out he had cancer.  Kind of sent me into a place that hasn't been good to me.  This is my 3rd sibling to pass from cancer, and three remaining older B&S have each had some type of cancer, so the hand writing is probably on the wall for me.

So like Simon says (isn't that a game) getting motivated has been tricky, especially since the weather hasn't been cooperating. 

But I have been trying to get back out and hit the trails and trying not to find too many excuses not to run.  I am feeling better (mentally), cutting down on the calories (I had put on over 10 lbs just from the end of Jan) and cutting down on the alcohol and going some days without it. 

Of course I'm frustrated with my running as I want to be back to my old self, but the injury prone season last year and almost 6 solid months off, I'm quite on the slow side, but the most important think is that I'm back.

So far the calves have been feeling real good.  I finally change therapists and together we've revised some stretching and he had me buy a roller, not one of the foam ones, but a hard plastic one.  I roll my calves a couple times a day and at first it used to really hurt, but now I'm rolling much harder and they feel much better.  I'm suppose to roll before and after I run and then ice pack them afterwards.  So far so good, but they certainly don't have many miles on them yet.

Matt, sorry the DC thing didn't work for you.  I'm kind of in the same boat, they've announced they're closing my facility sometime in the near future but can't say when or what they are going to do with us.  Could be 2-3 years before it's done and if goes that long, I've told them to give me a severance package and I'll retire (and come back as a contractor)

Also thanks for keeping your promise and keeping the group going.

Larry

Glad to see you back, Larry!

My sympathies on the sudden loss of your brother- I recently lost my best friend to lung cancer, and my sister has terminal brain cancer. This horrible disease took my Mum, with stomach cancer, so I too, may be on borrowed time. It does seem some families are predisposed to the problem.

I don`t have a solution but I am trying to use sun screen and to get enough exercise to stay healthy. I am trying to avoid really stupid foods like doughnuts, and to eat a variety of fruits and vegetables, and to avoid stress as much as possible.

We do what we can, fate deals us a hand and we play the cards as we can.

Larry, sorry to hear you've had such loss in your family. Running is still one day at a time so just keep trying to get out there.

Simon, sorry to hear you too have been dealing with loss. It's really crappy how everyone seems to have lost someone from cancer.

Good job, Vino. That wind can be a real killer.

I did a 6 mile run today that I just didn't seem to have the mojo for. My legs just weren't as strong. I'm trying to get back to having a long run on Sundays. I've hit my weekly mileage goal the last 2 weeks which I'm happy about. I'm trying to get my mileage up to consistently over 15, then next month I can push for over 20 as I look to start half training in mid-June. (I'm hoping in just having more consistent miles, I will see improvement.) Last year, I roughly followed a Higdon plan, but I think I just didn't have enough mileage to do as well as I hoped. Still it was my first half so that's just a learning thing for training and race day itself.

Larry - condolences on the family situation. I cannot begin to imagine how tough it must be but am glad you are back and getting something out of your running. It's great to see you back posting here!

Situations like that certainly put my domestic situation into perspective. For what it's worth we are headed back to DFW (as long as all y'all Texans will let me back bobev!); Delhi was just a step too far for us. The house in DC should be on the market this week and we'll take our timeline from that. As for keeping the group going... there's nothing to it; turns out we're quite the chirpy bunch!

Andy - I know you posted it in another thread but great stuff on the Indy Mini. The picture of you kissing the bricks is an absolute gem!

Meg - I can really relate. As I don't follow a fixed time for getting out the door to do my runs I am finding my mojo and will power letting me down more and more. I try to do 3 seven mile runs in the week and a long run at the weekend. This week, due to my lack of will power to get out of bed I found myself doing my last of my 7 milers at 9pm on Friday night, on the treadmill at the gym, and that left me going out the door for my long run in the heat of Sunday afternoon (as there was no getting me out of bed on Saturday morning!). Keep plugging away and increasing that mileage, you can do it.

Barb - How did the race go? Let us all know!

Have a solid week next week everyone!

Cheers MattJ

I'm making a training adjustment.

I did my LongRun on Saturday 1:10

and

I was kinda sore yesterday (didn't like that)

So

I'm going to scale back Just a Tad

and

jump into Hal Higdon's 10K Novice Plan, and then just continue on with his Novice HM plan, which, repeating some weeks, should get me to the Starting Line for a Fall HM I have planned.

So starting today I'm cutting my :50 mediums for a few weeks down to :40

And I'm lacing up and out the door in a minute here.

Frances, I'm a bit sore today (too much standing and too much wind I think) so I get it. Never bad to scale back a tad if you need to.  

Progression run tonight, first one in a long time, my right ankle is a bit sore probably from the road camber.

 

Kilometer splits 5:38, 5:16, 4:56, 4:47, 4:32. I must say I felt fat and out of shape- not a great run.

But like you say, it was your first in a long time and you finished.

Sometimes the win is just getting out there. Next time will be better!

Thanks everyone for your thoughts and sympathy. 

Simon, sorry to hear of your loss and dealing with your sister as well.  This "C" thing is getting out of hand.  You're right, that we are often dealt a hand and get what we get good and bad. 

Weather has been crappy here in the Northeast and isn't helping my motivation any, but have gotten out twice already this week and got a run in..

Matt, hope DFW works out for you.

It's taken me 9 weeks to build up to a Long Run of my scheduled 80 minutes tomorrow

Training by time instead of miles is a great idea.  I think more people should drop their mileage focus and go by time and effort.