181

That's what the scale said this morning. I have not stepped on the scale since my last marathon because I was afraid of what it might say. Though I am disappointed that I am about 10 lbs heavier than I would like to be, I am not "overweight" by BMI standards, barely. The wieght gain has a couple of causes. One, I have not been doing any long runs as our new son Ian, born, as it happens, on the same day as my last marathon, is a higher priority than getting up at the crack of dawn on Saturday and running for a couple of hours. And two, I have helped myself to more than the occasional beer as I have no marathon or long run looming in the near future. My eating has been about the same as pre-Ian, but if I am running 60% to 70% of the mileage I was before Ian, I should probably cut back more than I have. There are some other excuses such as being sick every other week, a general lack of sleep reducing motivation, and poor weather, but I can't control those things.

So today I start the official back to fitness campaign. I will run my standard 5.6 mile loop at lunch today, which I will repeat a couple of times during the week. And, I will chug through a 7.2 miler later in the week. And, more importantly, I'll limit adult drinks to Fridays and Saturdays (and baseball games). Each day I'll report my weight on the blog. I'll write it in my running journal too, but that doesn't have the same impact as publishing it here. As for the long runs, we'll see. That imposes strains on the family that will have to be negotiated before making a public commitment. Ian is likely getting the dreaded ear tubes sometime soon. We are hoping that will help with sleep and increase general family happiness. The long runs will start after that on a limited basis (maybe).