the next big run

I finally found my running spirit again. In the last few days there has been a lot of talk among my running friends about the next big run - The Chicago Marathon. Andy has been signed up for quite a few months, I on the other hand was waiting until after the Mini to see how I felt. All the talk (not to mention the news about registration hitting 30,000 participants already and it closing once it reaches 40,000) has piqued my excitement and I am going to get signed up tonight! I even felt like going out for a run last night, so I went over to the park for an easy 4 mile run. The weather was nice, even when it rained on me at the very end of the run it was fine - it reminded me of playing in the rain like I did as a kid. The next thing to do is get a training schedule together so I can get my long runs scheduled. I am looking at schedules by Hal Higdon, whom I used last year, Jeff Galloway and Dave Kuehls. I want to see which program will work best for me, eventhough I'll probably modify it to work for me. I have a few household chores to get finished up so I can focus on training...I have some drywall repair work that is almost done, all that is left is painting the walls. Next will be painting our fence and spreading mulch...after that just my weekly lawn mowings - which I find relaxing, almost zen-like, and always great for cross-training :)