Well, that's been a long pause, wasn't it? Here is the story in short form (and won't write the long form).

I ran Boston. I wasn't quite in perfect shape, just shy of a 3-hour marathon in that course, and it wasn't the perfect day (is it ever?), so I ended up bonking *really* bad, and I ran a 3:11:xx something. I got so discouraged, that I never wrote a race report, and I never will. Enough to be said that it was a death march after the Newton hills.

Then, I wasn't training for anything, and I had a busy summer, as always, with lots of travel. I kept in shape though, and I did some great hiking in Colorado. I did have my share of disappointment there, too, when I made an unsuccessful attack of Longs Peak (*not* the Keyhole Route). My whole summer I averaged 20-ish miles a week, with large variance between 40-50 and 0.

Then the usual fall struggle started, back on, and then off, because mostly being very busy. Right now my Strava profile says that I ran an average of 20 MPW in the last four week. This includes a 9-day pause, in which I did a bunch of firefighting, and then I had oral surgery (gum graft) that sidelined me for a few days.

I started back this week with great plans! This year's Polar Bear Grand Prix will be a good excuse to get back into shape. I really want to run just one more 3-hour marathon on a somewhat challenging course, if nothing else. It is probably not realistic to expect this next spring, but I want to run a marathon next spring. So here are the detailed plans.

I run base mileage until Race 1 of the PBGC. That is December 14, and it's a 4K. I might get back to around 50 miles by then, if all goes well. That race may work as a benchmark, unless the weather is terrible. But in any case, the plan is that I will have a baseline by that race.

Then add some quality (probably keeping the mileage) and do a 5K training to prepare for the 2nd race, which is a 5K on January 11. Then I'll figure out if extra mileage is appropriate, but just train well for the third race, a 4-miler.

Once that training is over, I can do a short cycle for a sprig marathon, hopefully the Derby Marathon. 3 hours is not realistic, but I can try to BQ my current age group, which is now around 3:05 for me. Keep training until July, when I'll do some crazy hiking and climbing. Then off to a fall season - a short cycle to run a challenging fall marathon in 3 hours. By that time I'll be 45, and that would probably earn me Wave 1 qualification in Boston.