So, in a fit of insanity this spring, I signed up to run the Chicago Marathon. I don't know what I was thinking, given that that means training through July, August and September here in Austin, the hottest months of the year. At this point, I'm nine weeks in, which is the halfway point. Of course the second half is tougher than the first half in terms of the distance of the long runs.

This last weekend was my first 20 miler. I only made 19 in the end, but still it was a long 3+ hours. Getting going early is important here in the summer, and that's tough for me, given that I'm not really an early morning person. But if you don't start a 3 hour run at 6:00, you end up really regretting it!

This week has been a back-off (also known as recovery) week. So I'm only in for about 11 miles on Sunday. Whew! I've come a long way if 11 miles is considered a recovery week.