The Maniac Is Back!!!!

Good morning everyone, sorry that I have been AWOL for so long and have not kept in touch. There are many reasons, most notably is that I've determined I'm a wimp when it comes to cold weather running it seems. Add that to a work schedule that has kept me out of town more than in town of late and I'm just able to not find the time or energy to drag myself out of bed when I should be to get the morning run going. Excuses Excuses Excuses...a dime a dozen and with enough of them and a pocket full of money we can all stop in at Starbucks for a needed caffiene kick can't we. Well I"M BACK.

Not only did I take off most of February, but I managed to not do much for March either. I did show up for the Little Rock Marathon on March 2, and yes I did finish the full marathon under my own power, but not overly happy with the results (6:33:36). I wasn't the last off the course but dang near it. I got one of their big honking medals, and I do mean BIG. They advertise that they give the biggest medal in the marathon world, what they don't tell you is that it weighs the most too. I told the lady when she put it around my neck that I wasn't sure I could carry it, but she assured me that I had just completed the truly difficult part. Their course....I can say it all in one word...HILLY. The first 16 miles are hills of some sort, up or down, but always one or the other, and as a runner it seems we climbed alot more than we bounded downhill. As an engineer I know that for every reaction there is an equal and opposite reaction, so that for every time we ran up a hill we would need to run down a hill at some point. However, miles 14, 15 and a part of 16 I think were all up Mount Everest, or what seemed it's equivalent in Arkansas. But I do have to admit that the back side of 16 was almost like a slide, where were those shoes with the wheels underneath them at that point!!! I can add more detail if anyone might be interested in running this race in the future, I don't think I'll be adding it to my conquests to repeat, at least for a while. But it is certainly a fun race and scenic.

So as a quickie recap I've done 5 marathons in 7 months, and preparing to do #6 in 8 months. I missed in October and February. The upcoming marathon is the Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon. If you've not run this it is a great event originating as a memorial run on behalf of those that lost their lives in the 1995 OKC Bombing, but has evolved in a memorial race for many others.

In fact this year the Edmond Running Club, where I am a board member, will be sponsoring special bibs for ERC members to wear on behalf of Rachel Davis. Rachel's mom Karen is a member of the ERC. Recently Rachel was tragically taken from us as the result of a car accident where she and a fellow Oral Roberts University classmate died while enroute from Tulsa back to Rachel's home in Edmond, OK. Those of us from the ERC will be running in rememberance of Rachel and all the good that she stood for as a young adult whose life was cut short, but has gone to live in eternity with our God and Savior.

So yes I'm back. I've not felt much like blogging this year because I'm just not running felt that it was not justified to blog about something that wasn't happening. But I'm back....with a vengence....well I'm not sure about that, we shall see...will be looking forward to catching up with everyone though....hope you all are well and still around.