Farewell To Blogging...

I recently have not had much time to devote to blogging. My updates have gone from one post each day or two to one post every week or two...not enough to really keep things going from a blog perspective.

When I first started the blog in late December 2007, I wasn't sure whether I would be able to keep it going. I had started training for my first marathon and I used the blog to document my progress and to keep me honest (if others were watching/reading, I knew I couldn't skip the workouts).

However the blog became something more than just a means for documenting my training. Through the blog I have made many new friends in the running community and also re-connected with old friends that have found my blog through Google or Facebook. For people that I see on a regular basis, the blog has become a conversation starter - and many times they already know what is happening in my life based on what they have read in the blog.

Coincidentally, I have been blogging for a little bit more than 26 months and 2 weeks (26.2???). It's a rather appropriate place to end a blog named "Mike Fox's Marathon Blog".

Will I be back? Most likely I will. When work calms down a bit and/or when I train for another marathon. I may also post race reports on the blog (and cross post them in FB and RunningAhead).

However, by "shutting down" the blog I will no longer have the stress of "I haven't blogged in over a week..." hanging over me.

Thanks everyone for reading the blog and supporting me over the past 2+ years!!!

Running, Push Ups, Working A LOT, and NOT Blogging

So...once again more than a full week without a blog post. I'm considering retiring the blog, but I kinda feel (or at least hope) that work will let up soon and I'll be able to get back into a nice rhythm again.

Although I haven't been blogging, I have been running. I managed to run four times this week - a Monday morning easy run outside before the sunrise, a Thursday morning tempo run also outside, a Friday morning treadmill run at the gym and then again this morning a 6.2 mile "long" run outside. The temperatures are getting warmer and the snow is finally starting to melt here. Finally.

Overall I ran 18 miles this week. This was pretty normal for me in a not-training-for-anything type of week. However, I have the Cherry Blossom 10 Miler in 5 weeks. Time to ramp up!

I still am feeling a bit nasally. I think I'm getting a bit of a relapse since my 4-year old has been sneezing and coughing for the past few days. I need to hit the sack early tonight to fight this off.

I also have been doing my pushups! I completed Week 4 of the Hundred Push Up Challenge. Day 3 of Week 4 I completed 150 pushups over 5 sets. That's an average of 30 pushups each - two weeks ago I managed 31 push ups in my exhaustion test and I thought I was a rock star then! I will be doing another exhaustion test either today or tomorrow. I'm psyched to see how many I can do now.

One other thing - I just got a new cell phone which tend to be a bit more internet/data focused. I may try to blog from the phone - which will hopefully mean more frequent posts, but definitely shorter posts. We'll see how it works out.