Fish

I had fish tonight for the first time in a very long time (probably have only had fish a handful of times in my life). I've never had a desire to eat fish - I think it's a texture thing. But if I'm going to lose some weight and try to get back some speed as I head into my mid 40's - I'm going to have to make some concessions.

Long John Silver's was my former experience with fish - and that was more fried brown stuff than fish. What we had tonight wasn't too bad - pretty bland really. We had some seasoning and lemon juice and some rice to chase it down. Wasn't as exciting as a steak but that's why it's healthy.

I ran 5 miles and set up my bike for next week's Chicago Triathlon. It was a beautiful day to be outdoors.

Slow going

After coming up short to my Boston goal at the Disney marathon – I kind of gave up for a while. For the next 6 months – I ran very little – probably less than I have in more than a decade. I might have run once every couple weeks. I'm not really sure. I just stopped.

I blame it on the economy. Because of the economy, (in an indirect way) I changed jobs. Because of the economy, my new job is fairly stressful. Because of the economy, I couldn't sell my house and my family and I lived in a not so nice rental. Because of the economy, I was pretty stressed. Because of the economy, I quit working.

But I found myself not feeling like myself – just generally off. I knew the problem – I've been running for over 30 years (and I'm 43) and not running was just not me. I was not being myself. But I couldn't run. I was burnt out.

One day I was perusing some races (thinking about running) on active.com and a triathlon sweepstakes entry form popped up. I figured what the heck, I'd try. Well sure enough, a couple months later I got an email saying I was the winner and I had gained entry into the Chicago marathon – did I accept. I took it as a sign that it was time to get back in shape and said yes.

It's a week before the race and I've been dieting and running short distances consistently. I'm not in very good shape. But I'm running. I know I'm not going to do well at the triathlon – it will be difficult just to finish. But I feel like I'm getting the itch to get back out there – I'm regaining the joy that I had from being a runner.