Hangin' at the Airport

Today has been an extremely unproductive day.  It was a day that started out with loads of promise, a day which could have been great, a day that would give me everything (a bit of an exageration).  I woke up this morning knowing that I would be saying "Goodbye" to my family for a few days, I was heading out to Chicago today.  The plan was as follows:

• Let my wife get to work early today
• Get my oldest on the school bus
• Drop my youngest off at school
• Get in a swim at the pool
• Get to the airport for my 1:25PM flight to Chicago
• Arrive in Chicago around 2:40PM with time to go to Niketown and a few other stores
• Go for a run along Lake Michigan
• Grab dinner at ESPN Zone
• Get to be reasonably early (to be fresh for my Wednesday morning run and meetings)

Here is how things have gone

• My wife left a bit later than she wanted, not a big deal
• Got my oldest on the bus, kissed her and told her I would miss her
• Dropped my youngest off at school, kissed her told her I would miss her
• Go in a swim at the pool (2,000M in 40:03....yeah, a good swim!)
• Got to the airport for my 1:25PM flight
• Received news that the plane was being taken out of service, ergo flight is cancelled
• Got put on a flight that leaves at 5:55PM and into Chicago at 7:21PM
• Will probably get to hotel around 8:15PM or so, then I'll try to get out for a run and then just go to bed.  Of course this means that I will miss LOST tonight as well....DAMN!!!

Enough complaining for now, I just have to make the best of it.  I will try to grab an early dinner here at the airport and be ready to run out the door as soon as I get to the hotel in Chi-town. 

On a side note, I did get on the bike last night, rode for about 45 minutes on my trainer in the basement.  I had my 12-21 cassette on it and boy was it a tougher ride than I am used to, no gaps.

That's it for now, I'm hoping to get my seat assignment soon and then eat as healthy an airport meal as is possible.  Cheers!

Back and Fatter than Ever

I am back. Back from a week in Florida and an mini-vacation away from running, swimming and biking. I suppose it is good every once in a while to take a little break away from training to refresh the "batteries" so to speak, but to also remind yourself how much you miss it. Don't get me wrong, I did enjoy not having to drag myself out into the 90F+ temps and high humidity to run a very slow 4 miles while I was down there. Running in Florida sucks when you are used to running up north where the temps are just getting back to ideal and the humidity is a non-factor. What I did realize while I was down there was that I really missed being in shape. I missed feeling good about myself. I missed the feeling of going out and running four or five miles at a sub-8:00/mile pace and finishing with a smile on my face.

So am I glad that I didn't run from Thursday through Sunday? Yes, I am glad. It gave me time to spend with my wife, that we haven't had in a while. We had a great time visiting EPCOT (I love "Soarin'" and walking around to all of the different countries) and Downtown Disney, and going our for an extremely nice dinner at the Disney Boardwalk.

The break also gave me the opportunity to realize that I do love running, swimming and biking more than I may have previously realized. It also reminded me that you can destroy months worth of work in a very short time (I think I gained around 8 - 10 pounds on the trip).

Good Food + No Exercise = 1 Month of Serious working out and a strict diet

The only recap I can really do for the past week or so would revolve around my vacation with my wife.

Thursday
As I mentioned above, we walked around EPCOT for five hours or so on Thursday night in flip flops (OUCH!), going to all of the exhibits that we weren't able to go on when we were here with our girls last November. We went on "Soarin'" twice, went in the giant EPCOT globe, rode the "Test Track", saw "Honey, I Shrunk the Audience", and capped off the night by sharing a massive turkey leg and a funnel cake over in the U.S. (actually I ate the majority). Once the park closed we drove over to Downtown Disney to check it out (translation, spend a bunch of dough on things for the girls).

Friday
We woke up with sore feet and very sore calves. Who would have thought that walking for seven hours with little rest would hurt so much. We were able to sit by the pool at the hotel for a good portion of the day (despite the large Central American contingent that monopolized the area). We did find the Spa pool to be a bit better and we were able to nap for a bit. Around 4:00PM we decided to head back to the room and get ready for dinner which was over at Disney's Boardwalk. Again, we had a great night, just the two of us eating a great dinner at the "Flying Fish Cafe" (although briefly interrupted by some phone calls from the in-laws). FYI, my wife looked AMAZING, absolutely beautiful at dinner that night (I wonder if she will mind if I post a picture of her on here).

Saturday
Not much here except for some last minute gift buying and then the trek back to Pennsylvania. It was a long day of travel, but we were both looking to getting home to see the girls.

Sunday
I thought I would be getting out for a run or a ride at some point, but I just wasn't feeling it. I was exhausted from the previous days travel and my body was just hurting. I should have found and excuse to get my butt off of the couch and go for a run, but it just didn't happen. I did decide that Monday would be the day to start. Monday is the day to officially start my training for November 2010! Oh, I technically started with dinner on Sunday, salad with some chicken in it (no bread). Then I technically took a step back when I had a big bowl of Vanilla Fudge Ripple ice cream before bed. Oh well, I guess Monday it is!

That's it for now. I'm looking forward to getting started (today that is). Things are going to get interesting, that's for sure.