Today i had myself scheduled for an 18 mile run and for whatever reason i was feeling very antsy about it so decided instead crosstrain a little and get out on a bike. I haven't rode much in the last 5 months even though i really enjoy it. The last time i rode i hoped a curb and bent my back rim......oh that fat jokes that could come from this. Anyway, i called a friend and asked to use his mountain bike, an Iron Horse, the bike with its gel seat was like the cadillac of bikes, lol. I ended up going 44.5 miles in 3hrs 20 min. I stopped for about 20 minutes to eat and fuel up so the ride took me about 3hrs. It was a good break from running but i was more board on a bike than i am when i run. Weird, i know, but true.
Well i am about 2.5 weeks out from the Huntington Marathon. I don't know if i stated my goal at all. I have had alot of people emailing me with questions and advice so i don't remember if i stated it outloud yet or not.

My GOALS for this run are:
1) Finish
2) Finish in 4hrs or less

This is a lofty goal for my size but i believe its realistic. I just can't jump out of the gate to fast, ya know.

I recieved a message asking about how much and how long when i decided to start running again. Well I figured i would post it here because its good info, i think anyway.

A few months ago i was really getting down on myself with how i looked and it is still a struggle. I decided to start running to lose weight---big mistake. When you run to loose weight you start to focus more on the scale and the mirror than you do the running, at least i did. So i set small goals for myself. "Today i am going to run 5 miles instead of 3." "Today i am not going to stop and walk the "big" hill." I started to focus more on other goals and weight started coming off. The scale didn't show it to much but my clothes fit different. So next I decided on my 29th b-day to run a 10K. I didn't realize how far i had let myself get out of running shape until i did this race. After the race I felt like garbage and started to get really depressed about getting older. All i kept thinking about was, "I am going to be 30 soon and my life feels like its going no where." I was in Barnes and Noble and happend upon a book, "UltraMarathon Man, confessions of an all night runner" by Dean Karnazes. I literally couldn't put the book down. I hammered the book out in 2 days and decided, "today i am going to change". Not because of the book, not for other people, not for people to pat me on the back, not for people to be in awe cause i puff my chest out and declare "i am a runner and i run far". No, it was for me. So quitely i started running. Not really saying anything to anyone.
My first "big" run was what i like to call my cleansing run. At the time i hadn't been running anything over 5 miles at a clip and i up and decided, "screw this, dean ran 30 miles being out of shape i am going to run at least 20 being in shape." I ended up running 23 miles just for good measure and to prove to myself that i still have some grit and drive left. Since that time i have run 4-5 runs that were over 20 miles each and ran a 50k race. I can honestly say the 50K run was the best run i have ever had. I hurt but i wasn't broken. There is a bible verse/prayer that kept popping into my head that alot of Army Rangers use during ruck marches. I actually prayed it while i was running. "Lord help me to Run and not grow weary and if i need to walk help me to walk and not grow faint". My mind was off running and the pain and i really enjoyed trail.
So this is where i am.

"Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude."
--Thomas Jefferson