An update (about time, eh?)

Well.  So, I've been conspicuously absent.

Stuff that's been happening:

• Post-marathon lag:  Yes, this is real.  And icky.  I was on this like nonstop adrenaline high for 5 days and then I came to a crashing, burning halt, feeling like I had nothing to do with myself and nothing to do next.  I have yet to fully plan my next course of running-action.  Combine that with work stress and everything else, and well, my life's been peachy.  The next time I have a marathon in my sights, I will also set and register for a post-marathon mini-goal... maybe another race 6 weeks after or something.
• Realizing that running is important to my mood.  Related to previous point.  No runs = sad Annette.  No goals = sad Annette.  No time outside = sad Annette.  No social runs = sad Annette.
• Marathon training gave me strong feet. This is kind of awesome.  I got the Vibram Fivefingers out again since post-race it's basically a free-for-all now... and I can run 2 miles in them pain-free.  Compare that to before when I was getting various foot aches and pains.  This is kind of awesome.  
• Onset of cold fall weather.  Bleh.  I haven't busted out the tights yet, but there've been hat/gloves/longsleevies.
• No post-race injuries.  Seriously, my hip was twinging a little but nothing that bad.  The outside of my opposite knee hurt a little (a confirmed IT band thing) but nothing that bad.  This means my body took a lot of crap from me and still came out of it all right.  I'm feeling somewhat braver about raising the training stakes.
• Reading "Daniels' Running Formula" and setting new goals.  I think I'm going to target a 28 week training cycle with a planned marathon in the first or second week of May--and I'll use his training strategies to work on my speed and overall fitness.  More on this in another post.
• Haphazardly running here and there; taking days off all the time.  That's pretty much what happens to me if I'm not following a training program, and I don't like it.  Hence, time to lay out the program.
• Watched/cheered/biked around at the Indianapolis Monumental Marathon.  An old friend from high school did her first full marathon so I made the 3 hr trip there to watch her.  It was fun to be a spectator... there wasn't much crowd support at this one maybe because it was so cold.  After awhile I was able to station myself around mile 23 and really laid it on thick with the cheering for people.  For a non-outgoing person like me, I think I did a pretty sweet cheerleader job.  Heh.  And my friend totally kicked ass and finished in 3:58:50.  She didn't even look like she was suffering in the last miles.  My REAL goal is to be able to run a marathon and not look and feel like a corpse, since apparently this is possible.
• Joining dailymile.com.  Are you on there??  If you are, even if you haven't commented before, you should come out of the woodwork and tell me so and we can friend each other :)  I'd love to start using that site more to help me stay honest with speedwork all winter.