Shane.......

Shane! Come back Shane! Shane! Come back!!!

Just where have I been you may ask? Because, if you have been checking, it has been TWO MONTHS since I last posted. TWO MONTHS!!! What in the world have I been doing the last two months. Well, a Lot of EVERYTHING but very little running!

I have actually been on two vacations over the last couple of months, going all the way south to the beach and then going all the way north to Lake Ontario! My family and I took the usual summer vacation to Orange Beach, Alabama, a favorite spot of ours. A couple of weeks later we went to New York State for a wedding and visited Niagra Falls. We rode the "Maid of the Mist" right into the falls, an experience I highly recommend if you have a chance to go up that way.

Just make sure you wear the ponchos because it is like one of those water rides at Disneyworld - you WILL get wet! That's my little girl and boy all decked out in their ponchos. Check out my little boy sporting his John Deere shirt in up state New York!

It was a great time but, of course, the time between trips meant I was always playing "catch-up" at work. Plus, the C.C.O. decided to make TWO visits during this time which was REALLY fun!

But things are starting to slow down now and I've been thinking about the blog. I ran a 10K back in the middle of May but haven't run much since. I've been cycling a LOT - about three or four times a week with rides up to 50 miles. But even still, cycling doesn't seem to take the weight off like running does so I have crept back up a little in the weight department. I haven't been eating all that well and haven't kept up with any of the activity I've been doing on my exercise journal OR this blog. Of course, I say all this while I down an chocolate-oatmeal drop cookie or what my family fondly refers to as "doo doo drops"!

But I have been thinking about some goals for the remainder of the year and will start blogging again to track my progress. I have Two races marked on my calendar for the remainder of the year:

The Los Locos Duathlon in Lakeland, TN benefiting childhood congenital heart disease on September 30th. Childhood heart disease is something close to my heart since I suffered from the disease as a child. It is a duathlon with a 2 mile run, 15 mile bike ride, and another 2 mile run to finish. It will be my first go at a multisport event so I am pretty pumped about it.

I also have marked the Memphis St Jude Half Marathon on December 1st. That's right. I am going just the half distance this year because I have been concentrating so much on cycling. But I plan to work really hard in the fall months to try and get my time below two hours. My wife plans to run it with me so it looks to be a fun family event!

I also want to lose about 25 pounds over the next few months. A lot of it is weight that has just been nagging at me and I haven't concentrated hard enough on it to lose it. But STARTING TOMORROW :-) I am starting a healthier way of eating to try and get rid of the weight. My wife is going to do it with me for a while, even though she doesn't really need to lose weight. I think I have been feeling myself get more motivated because I know I will get up those hills faster on a bike if I was a few kilos lighter!

SO there! I have put all my goals out there so YOU - the blog reader - can track my progress. Of course, I would LOVE any encouragement you choose to offer but feel free just to read along. Then again, if you don't hear from me in a couple more months, you can only imagine how the progress has been going!

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY!!!