This week, I finally pulled the trigger and decided to run another marathon. My first, in Chicago back in the fall of 2004, was a great experience, and I think I’d like to try it again. I’m not sure I can really improve my time, as I’ve chosen hilly San Francisco as my next course, but I’ll give it a shot. The race is at the end of July, which gives me plenty of time to prepare, and I’m trying a different training regimen this time around.

I’ll be using Hal Higdon’s Intermediate I training schedule, which looks a bit tougher than what I did last time, but this time, the numbers don’t seem quite so intimidating. Every workout, in fact, every day, of the program, is described in detail on the website, so I think it’ll be a useful tool to get me in shape. Strangely enough, Higdon is also the author of Leopold & Loeb: The Crime of the Century, listed for sale among his dozens of other books with titles like Marathon – The Ultimate Training Guide, Boston – A Century of Running, and RUN FAST–How to Beat Your Best Time. Multi-talented guy, I guess.

Aimee and I ran the Santa Monica Venice Christmas Run, a 5k along the water this morning, which was a lot of fun, but not particularly Christmas-y, with pleasant temps in the 70s, definitely t-shirt and shorts weather. I did a little better than I thought, but I’m still looking to challenge my personal best at the distance, which I did while training for the marathon the last time around. We’ll see.