I’m writing this from the IU press box, where on a day like this a year ago, I was chugging Powerade after running my second Monumental Half-Marathon.

I didn’t make it to three.

Two years ago, I signed my wife and I up for the Monumental Half because we were supposed to run it with a friend. The friend backed out — can’t say that I blame her — but my wife and I kept up with the training. We ran it, we finished, even though we hit a wall at the 11-mile mark. My bad knees and my wife’s leg cramps meant walking for most of the last two miles, although we sucked it up and ran across the finish line.

The idea was that we would run it again, trying to break the three-hour mark this time. And we almost did. But again, some health issues out on the course meant that, even though we improved our time, we didn’t break three hours.

And we lost our drive. So we slacked off over the winter and lost whatever running ability we had. So this morning, while one of my former sportswriters was running the half in just under two hours — S.O.B. — my wife and I, well, weren’t.

So why blog about this? Because I realized this morning that I did miss running the Monumental. Especially since there wasn’t sleet this time around.

In case you weren’t aware, running in sleet sucks.

So consider this my public challenge to myself. Get back in shape, get back to running, get my ass in gear.

First, though … the chocolate chip cookies in the press box are delicious.