Twitter?

I hear all this talk about Twitter, but don't understand what all the excitement is about. With that said, I decided to create an account to see what all the fuss is about. Unfortunately, the name Eric Smidt is a bit more popular than I thought. You can find me as http://twitter.com/ericsmidt. Let's just see if anything comes of it.

Getting Back on Track

I think my exercise is getting back on track. I've had two good weeks in a row of getting back to where I was. Last week I did 4 runs for a total of 20.64 miles in 2:45 with 1,100 feet of elevation. I was tired, sore and out of shape but flt good getting started again. This week I ran 35.1 miles in 5:35 with 2,300 ft of elevation in 4 runs. The interest to do more is definitely coming back. I wanted to push more during the runs, but forced myself to hold back. Next week I'm hoping to add 1 bike ride in the mix to start adding some cross training. I may try to ride to work one day and then run home. It feels good to have an interest in this again.

Someone brought up Boston again today. I have 5 weeks to get myself to the start line. It would not be a good showing for me, but I'm confident I could get myself to the finish line. I have no desire to do it though. Actually, I still have no desire to train for any race. I'm feeling good getting back into exercising and getting back into shape. I still have a ways to go, but it's a great start.

Not much else to report this week. There has been way too much going on with work and the house to do much else. I had been playing some micro limit stakes poker lately, but have been too busy to play this week. Unfortunately, I have a habit of playing too much and not getting enough sleep when I'm into it. With so much going on lately, there just wasn't time for it last week. Plus, I was way behind on sleep and needed to catch up a bit.

As I start getting back into things, hopefully I will have more to report on. Until I can get fully back into life mentally, the posts will likely continue to be sporadic. With that said, it feels good to have some positive things that make me feel good to report on again.

Running Again

I've finally been able to start back running again this week. The ribs were still a bit sore on Monday, but I wanted to feel it out and see if I could start getting back into it again. It felt like a minor bruise with no real discomfort.

I feel like a newbie again. I did 4 miles on Monday and 5 1/2 on Tuesday. I was so incredibly sore on Wednesday. First of all, it was a bit slow (for me) and it was only 9 1/2 miles. Crazy. It didn't help that it was 87 degrees on Monday. :) (Sorry, had to add that in there.) I did another 5 1/2 today and averaged under 8s. Of course, my mind and natural gate want me to run faster than I am running, but my body is just not ready for that yet. My heart rate was way too high today given my effort level. I guess I just need to take it easy and ease my way back into it.

There are no race goals in the future. Unfortunately, both my qualifications for the Boston marathon expire this April. So if I ever want to do that race again, I'm going to have to re-qualify. Even if I was in shape, I still doubt I would have done it this year. Knowing that I was going to miss it this year for other reason and then suddenly being able to do it was just going to be too much I think.

So my goals are just to get back in shape again. I want to put in some running miles and get back into riding my bike again. I had recently started to do yoga and had really enjoyed it before taking about 5 or 6 weeks off due to vacation and injuries. I also hope to find some motivation again. I just don't have any these days. No motivation for much of anything. That reminds me, I just found out softball is coming up again. I love softball, but this is the least excited I've ever been for the start of a season.

That's it for now. Hopefully I will be back soon with updates (and excitement) on running, cycling, The Biggest Loser, American Idol, softball and all the other things I enjoy.