Hello

Hi, I am Brian Stephenson and over the next few weeks in months I hope you will follow along as I train for the Bank of America Chicago Marathon on October 11, 2009. That seems a long way away now but the summer will fly by and before you know it the race will be right around the corner.

I have a lovely wife, Robyn, and two gorgeous daughters, Ellie and Amber you will hear me speak of often in the coming months. I will insert personal battles we have faced and some we still face everyday thoughout future entries.

Fall marathons are much more fun to train for than spring marathons. Since it takes a good 4-5 months to properly train for a marathon spring marathons have you doing much of your training in the winter, and Michigan winters build hearty marathon runners! It is essential that you find a group to run with or else it is way to easy to skip a 15 mile run when it is 10 degrees outside with a windchill hovering around zero. I have a marathon coming next week in Traverse City that I have been training for since the first of the year through some mighty cold and snowy days, let's hope it all pays off. I plan on taking a month off and start training again for Chicago.

I have some unconventional training methods at times, like running 12 miles in boots this winter, I hope to run barefoot several times (this would be on grass, I said I was unconventenal not insane!). This is one thing dystonia has taught me, be flexible and allow yourself some lattitude. Whether this means taking a little longer to accomplish some tasks or coming up with a completely different way to do a normal activity.

Quote of the day: "This pain is only temporary, quitting stays with you forever." - Lance Armstrong.