After a few months of being too busy to blog, I’m back! What did I do during that time you ask? Primarily I ran. A lot. And started a new position at work. And read. And enjoyed the great outdoors because… summer!

But I’m back now! Chicago Marathon finisher and all!

I found out about this half marathon a month ago, so I had very little time to train. Luckily because I was almost done with my getting back to running decent distances,  I was able to pick up from there and use this as further motivation. Am I completely ready for the Gutenberg (Half) Marathon Mainz? Probably not. Am I excited for it? Absolutely!

My parents will be here, so I fully expect to hear jokes and funny comments coming from my father at periodic points along the route, and see lots of pictures afterwards taken by my mom. Since the route is along the Rhine I’m not sure if mom’s pictures will be of the view or of me, but I guess I’ll find out soon!

I have really enjoyed training for this race, since it’s made me remember why I like running so much. I’ve been able to get back into the longer distance runs much quicker than I expected, and I’ve been able to explore my surroundings a little bit! Now I just need to finish the race.

Oh, and in true German style you get beer for finishing.

Today I hit a milestone. For the first time since early October I was able to run a mile. While this would’ve seemed like nothing to me 6 months ago, today this mile means a lot. Why? Because I’m back!

I’m not someone who gets injured often. When I was a kid I never broke a bone. Not until late middle school did I even sprain an ankle. Having to hobble around at work on crutches, wear only flats to work (once the lovely black shoe/boot thing was off), and not being able to go out because I didn’t want to hobble a long ways from a train stop – these things were hard for me. But now I’m back!

Biking and ellipticizing and yoga have been great, but I’ve been going crazy the last few months not being able to run! When I could finally run I was only able to go extremely short distances. I don’t like being confined to a gym as my only option, and now depending on the weather I can once again make the great outdoors my gym!

So today, with my new(ish) shoes (Pink! Thanks Dad!) I finally hit the mile mark. I don’t have to consider my runs a warm-up to an elliptical session anymore! Now, my elliptical is a warm-up for running. And most importantly I can enjoy watching the US Marathon Olympic trials today without thinking “I wish I could run again.”