Looking Back

This time around was really an accident. I had been running since I was about 11 years old, and grew more and more fond of the competition. I ran through High School, and then for a year of college. Then marriage and kids took over. Sure I ran here and there, and rode my bike a lot (interesting because that takes so much more time), but had no clear vision for running.
Then my wife went on bedrest with our twins and found herself in the hospital for three weeks. With our oldest son staying with my in-laws, and my total commitment to stay by my wife, I had to find something to offset my horrible eating habits while I was there. So one night I went out for a run. Oddly enough, I did the same thing the next day, and the one after that. It started feeling really good, and I felt like I was hitting a rhythm. In less than two weeks I had run a 9 miler in roughly an hour. Almost all of these runs were at night. Time to reflect, to be calm, and time to dream.
I jumped in head first, in my mind the St. Jude Half Marathon in Memphis on the first Saturday in December would be my first big thing back. My wife, in all of her prudence, knowing that no one could be there to watch me run it, told me to run the local Turkey Trot 4 miler, and train for the Country Music Marathon in April. I had just been given the green light! Marathon, whoa, on only 6 months of really running again, I was ready for it.
That turkey trot was amazing. Our twins were in the NICU by this point and were about a week old, doing fine, but still small, and this race benefited March of Dimes, I believe this was divine, perfect. I crossed the line in 23:43, secured 9th place, placed in my age group, and took home a pumpkin pie!
Since then:
Mike Cody 4 miler: 24:00
Germantown Half Marathon: 1:29:00
Country Music Marathon 3:25:40
Harbor Town 5k: 18:27
Elvis Presley 5k: 17:59
Forest Spence 5k: 17:38
Marine Corps Marathon: 2:57:11
Notice the trend anyone? My times are coming down! I even notched my first check for finishing 2nd in my age group at the 1/2 marathon. Longer distances are getting easier! I am running smart, something that used to be an oxymoron. Looking ahead to three weeks from now when I will return to that 4 miler that vaulted my own personal current running boom, I could not be more encouraged or excited about the possibilities ahead of me. I will not run another marathon until at least next fall, NYC, or even next spring Boston, because well I qualified : ), so it should be fun injecting a lot of speed over the coming months.
I will build a mileage base that I have never had before and hit wichever marathon as hard as I can. All of this, my trophies, sore muscles, and the three pairs of shoes I have burned through this year covering almost 2,000 miles, is all because my wife suggested I wait to run my first marathon. God Bless Her!