After a brief hiatus, I have found my way back to the keyboard. I hope you didn’t miss me too much.

At least I had good reasons for being away, most notably a long weekend in my former home of Jacksonville, Fla.

I was there to run the half marathon of the 26.2 with Donna, which was my first run of more than six miles since mid-November. Given the results, maybe not training for events is a decent idea.

A year ago I trained all winter for a half marathon in Washington, D.C., and finished in 1:49:45. This winter I spent most of my time in a recliner thanks to a stress fracture in my foot, ran for only five weeks before the race and finished in 1:50:46. Of course I also ran the same distance in November after a ton of training and went 1:43:06, so maybe there’s something to be said for preparation.

But outside of the race, it was kind of surreal being back in that city. I left in October 2008 to return to the D.C. area. Driving on the same streets and spending an evening at my old workplace felt like taking a vacation back in time to my former life. Even the race featured a portion of running on the beach ending at a pier that I used dozens of times as the finish line for runs when I lived there.

My job back then entailed working overnight shifts on the weekends, so after the 11 p.m. news was over I had to watch every single soul in the station leave at once. It got quiet in there real fast. But last weekend I was able to be a part of the exodus for the first time, and that was a rather nice change. I certainly don’t miss that portion of The Weekend Morning Show life.

Of course it was nice to leave a place with two feet of snow on the ground for weather in the 60s with bright sunshine. It’s a heck of a lot more enjoyable to run on pavement than on packed snow and ice.

The run wasn’t all gravy though. In the seventh mile the course goes through Jacksonville Beach, on a street right next to a bunch of shops and restaurants. I spent a lot of time in this area on my days off — down to the beach to read for a while and often taking a break for some pizza at Happy Stephanos. The good thing about sightseeing during a half marathon is that you have time to process the things around you. In this case, it was noticing that Happy Stephanos no longer exists. Crying shame.

I also feel the need to mark the end of the line for the Saucony Grid Triumph. They were on my feet since July I believe, playing an integral role in setting big personal bests in the half marathon (noted above) and 5K (20:24). Of course that 5K was done after suffering the stress fracture in these shoes, so maybe they shouldn’t get too much honor here. Back to the Nike Structure Triax starting tomorrow.