As we finish off yet another year it is hard to believe that I have been writing here at blog.262quest.com for three years now.  I still remember being in the weight loss forums in 2007 and constantly being told that I needed to start a blog.  I am still not sure if that was because they thought I actually had something worth reading or if they wanted me to stop writing my 13 paragraph forum posts and responses cluttering up their easy reading pages.

One thing that I do know for sure is that without this blog and it's dedicated readers I would never have accomplished what I have in running over these past three years.  Maybe it was the congrats for that first half marathon in early 2008, or encouragement and well wishes while getting through the healing and time off from the broken collar bone experienced just a few months later in a 5k race.  I know the training for and crossing the finish line of my first marathon in 2009 wouldn't have been possible without the constant comments, feedback, and encouragement from all of you, and the same holds true for my second marathon in 2010.  All that I learned from all of you during this time could never be replaced and won't be forgotten.

It has been a less than stellar six weeks of training since the marathon.  I started back just as I wanted to the week following the marathon, even though the coming week was Thanksgiving week and we were out of town.  It was at the tail end of that week that I hurt my back from too much driving and trying to run with a sorta hurting back.  That run felt good, but my back did not for over a week after that.

The setback of being hurt so soon after the marathon, and the holidays being upon us sent me down the same path I went last year following my first marathon.  I have had some decent running, but have not run too many days in a row before this week because I didn't want to run the risk of re-injury.  The fear of re-injury has also kept my long runs somewhat.... how should I say it..... short.

My birthday has once again come and gone, but this year I am certain that between Facebook and the Birthday giveaway I have received more birthday wishes than ever before.  It took just over two days for the comments to get up to 41, and I am sure some of you were holding out trying to hit that #41 guaranteed winner spot.

To everyone that commented and wished me a Happy Birthday, Thank You!  For those of you that guessed I did turn 41, but I am not sure what gave it away..... I will just have to say you are all just really really smart and some of you must have Googled to find out how old the more famous Tim Wilson's were. :)

Today is my birthday but I am not the one receiving the gift, you are!  I started the day with a 4.1 mile birthday run to celebrate the achievement of another year.  I thought about running in my birthday suit, but the 30 degree weather changed my mind.  I made the decision to run in early 2007 as part of a drastic life change which has allowed me to continue to get healthier which allows me to continue to get older.  Some people dread getting older, but I accept it as a gift, just like the jelly club of the month it is the gift that keeps on giving :)

After the weather last week I thought we were in it for the winter.  The weather was horrible, and unseasonably cold for Georgia, which meant some interesting running took place.  Now this week is much more like it with the 50+ degree temperatures and sunny skies leaving way for some nice sunny runs dressed like I prefer - shorts and a t-shirt.

Yesterday I came home from work and my daughter Payton was waiting for me.  Five minutes later we were out the door in the 49 degree temperatures  for a nice quick 4 mile run before we came home, showered, and hit the road to go see a movie.

If you haven't heard about Meb Keflezighi and his recent book Run to Overcome it is something you will want to find out more about.  I can't comment first hand on his book because I have not yet had the opportunity to read it yet, although it is at the top of my most wanted running books.  This book has been the talk of running blogs lately which had made me stop by on a regular basis to the book's site to try and win an autographed copy without any luck yet.

On with the giveaway.  I am going to be giving away a copy of Run to Overcome before I will even read it.  This copy will not be autographed unfortunately, but will be a brand new unread copy shipped directly to you by none other than Amazon. This giveaway will be provided solely by me and is in no way sponsored by or provided by anybody other than me.  Of course if the Tyndale House Publishers wants to contact me and offer to provide this giveaway copy I would more than oblige, and would love to have a copy to read myself. :)

I recently took part in an Ultimate Holiday Gift Exchange for running bloggers organized by Jill over at Run With Jill.  I got in at the last minute because all too often I get behind on my blog reading and I totally missed it till it was almost too late.  Nevertheless I got in on time and I was able to make the list.

I have never wore black toenail polish before and I don't plan on wearing it anytime soon just for the record.  Another thing I have never had before was black toenails from running.  I have run a marathon, multiple half marathons, and many other small races and I don't ever recall having a black toenail or losing one.  I did come close at one time with a toenail that looked a little off but it eventually grew out, but never fell off.

I have been told more than once in the last couple days that I am crazy for running in this weather, and sometimes I wonder if I am not a bit crazy.  Who in their right mind would want to get out of a warm bed and 5:00 in the morning to 15 degrees with a wind chill of ZERO!

This past week has been colder than normal in the Atlanta area, in fact I think we set a new low temperature record yesterday at 14 degrees.

Sunday I went out for my longest run since the marathon and then back issues and finished 6 miles.  It was 28 degrees, windy, and snowed the entire time I was running.  It wasn't a snow that would stick, but it made it much more enjoyable to run.  I ran at Tribble Mill Park and we were one of a very small group of people that were at the park that day, in fact the entire time we were there our car was the only one in the parking lot.

I have had a couple good runs since starting back slow this week.  I am itching to get running more but I am intentionally taking it very slow to make sure I don't re-injure anything along the way.

I am excited to get the mileage and training back to where it was but time will bring that soon enough (OK, soon enough may be a bit of an overstatement - I want to be back where I was NOW!)

I finally was feeling better enough to give the back and butt a run for it.  I decided this morning that I would go for a test run this evening if I felt good all day and I didn't have one pain at all.  The day did turn out that way and I had no pain at all throughout the day.

I started with a walk just to give it one last go at a brisk pace just to make sure there was no pain and there was none.  I started the two miles out really easy tuned in to every stride and every part of my back, butt, and legs.  I was ready to stop if anything at all came up and started to cause any pain or discomfort.  The run went really good and I didn't experience any pain whatsoever.  My legs were a little tight as I would expect them to be after not running for 9 days, but they still felt fine and didn't fatigue at all throughout the run.

It has been just over a week since the last time I ran.  The pain in the Butt wasn't getting any better then with a change of recovery methods, and complete laziness, it finally started changing for the better.  Following a lot of driving and a single run that made it worse, my back was hurting pretty bad last Saturday.  The pain moved to my butt shortly after and so I decided to take some time off to let it get better.

I have not been running and I have been taking it very easy.  I have also been stretching and using a heating pad at night.  This all seemed to be helping when I was doing it, but it really didn't seem to be progressing at all.

It has been nearly a week since I have run.  I wish I could say that it was all part of my plan and was part of my reverse taper for my marathon just a few weeks ago, but the marathon was a FEW weeks ago and most any reverse taper plan would have me running by now.  I was following a reverse tapering plan and was starting to feel myself again this past week.  I did get some decent runs in the week following the marathon, and last week was feeling really good.  Since last week was Thanksgiving here in the US we did  some traveling - a LOT of traveling.  We spent most of the week in Indiana and then the second weekend drove to North Carolina.