Mike's Marathon Blog

My goal this weekend was to get some rest. I didn’t get very much sleep this week and when I say I didn’t get much sleep, that means I barely slept at all. I really don’t know how many hours I actually sleep in a given night. I go to bed at an average time and I wake up at 6:30, but the reason for the lack of shut-eye in between is still a mystery. I wake up anywhere between 5-10 times per night. And these aren’t 1 minute awakenings to roll over or something like that. I wake up and it takes me at least 20 minutes to get back to sleep. I also have the bladder of either a 2-month-old puppy or an 85-year-old man with a prostate the size of a grapefruit.

Friday night I actually stayed in, got some take-out and watched TV. Unfortunately I am a Bruins fan, so it was not a very relaxing evening. It is still too soon for me to speak about the game (or series) we don’t speak of, so I will quickly move on. Friday was not a very ‘calorie-friendly’ night either. Do most people eat a Chipotle chicken burrito followed by a pint of Ben & Jerry’s Milk & Cookies ice cream in one sitting? Well you know what!? That’s what the biggest collapse in sports history will do to a person!! Ok. Stop. I apologize. I will move on, again.

Saturday morning I was up bright and early and headed to my parent’s house to get my bike ready for the 2010 season. I live in a condo, so anything that doesn’t fit here, goes into my parent’s garage or my old bedroom. They don’t mind. They got to watch the granddog while I went for a ride. Yes, I said granddog.

I picked up my friend Harry and headed to the Nashua River Rail Trail. If you’re a runner, biker, rollerblader, etc. and you’ve never been to this trail, definitely check it out! It’s an old railroad track that’s been paved over and travels about 12 miles from Nashua to Ayer. It’s a nice, flat ride and most importantly, you don’t have to worry about getting run over by any cars. Now that I’m running NYC, I need to be in ‘caution’ mode again. No major injuries before November and getting hit by a car is definitely on that list.

I spent Saturday night solo since Jack went out with some friends. And what do most guys do when their wife goes out for the night? I went to dinner and a play by myself. I went to dinner by myself and then to a play……….by myself! I typically go to the movies alone, so it wasn’t completely out of the ordinary. My cousin is the choreographer of a play in Nashua and last night was the only night I had free. I was hungry, so I grabbed some dinner beforehand. The play was amazing! It was seriously one of the best plays that I’ve ever seen (not that I’m a play expert or anything). If anyone is looking for something to do next weekend, go check out The Wedding Singer. http://www.peacockplayers.org/

Today I ran 10+ miles. This is my new summer weekend routine. Bike on Saturdays and long runs on Sundays. I will continue this schedule until I start training for NYC in August. I will talk about my summer exercise schedule in my next blog post. Today was my longest run since the marathon and I’m currently typing this with an icepack on my knee. Besides my knee, the run felt pretty good. I will have one more long run next Saturday and then the Run to Remember half marathon is the following weekend. Next week I need to start thinking about the triathlons I will be participating in this summer. Unfortunately my head still hasn’t healed from surgery and I am still weeks away from being able to swim. At this rate, I won’t be doing any triathlons this year. If you see me, try to refrain from laughing at the giant white bandage taped to the back of my head. Thanks.