December 19th

     What does December 19th mean?  Well for most it means it's Monday or just six more days until Christmas, but for me its the start of an 18 week journey to the Mercy Health Glass City Marathon.  

     Minutes after I crossed the finish line of my first marathon I knew deep down this wouldn't be my last, its all I could think about actually.  I made the decision that the Mercy Health Glass City Marathon would be my next attempt, but due to severe IT Band pain I wasted most of my training time trying to solve it on my own instead of seeking professional help.  Finally after weeks of trying different shoes, exercises and gimmicky products I listened to my friends and sought out professional help.  Alisha at Elite Sports and Orthopedic physical therapy got me fixed up and I was able to get enough training in to not only complete the GCM Owens Corning Half Marathon, but I PRd the shit out of it.

     Shortly after that race I was in Milwaukee for work and was able to meet up with Rik from the Fat to Finish line documentary who, at the time, lived in Milwaukee.   Super quick back story, Rik was on a podcast talking about the documentary and about his weight loss journey and for some reason it really hit me and stoked the fire under me to get my ass moving and lose the weight.  Rik and I became friends on Facebook and while I was in town we were able to get together for a run and hang out.  Trust me I am getting to my point here, so anyway we were talking over dinner and he had mentioned that he has a goal of running a marathon in all 50 states and I'll be damned if he didn't do it again with the inspiration thing.  I rode the motorcycle on this trip which allowed me plenty of alone time from my co workers to think and while on the way home that was all I could think about.  I came to the conclusion that a long, long term goal will keep me striving to stay healthy and engaged in running, so I signed up for the Detroit Marathon to kick off my 50 in 50 journey.  What better way to knock the second state off my list than go and complete the marathon of the first half marathon I ever ran.  Well for those of you that continually read my ramblings that never happened.  A couple weeks into my training the pain in my hip surfaced and my race hope was extinguished with the need for hip surgery.  

     When I toe the line on April 23rd, 2017 it will be roughly two and a half years since I have attempted 26 miles 385 yards, so I pretty much consider this to be my first ever marathon all over again and the start to my 50 in 50 state marathon journey, at least that is how I am going to approach it.  The plan is to just having fun at the race and taking it all in, with no pressure to finish in a certain time like I should have done the first time around.

     I sit here now typing away and I realized that if I am successful the GCM will in fact be my second marathon as I always planned it, but I can't help but wonder why the detour.  Was it just bad luck or did the good lord truly have a plan in place?  I don't know, but what I do know is, I have 13 weeks to get myself ready for the training cycle.  Starting next week, building a solid running base, strength training and trimming a little body fat are my biggest priorities for when December 19th rolls around.