The Peripatetic Runner
[\ˌper-ə-pə-ˈte-tik\]: wandering from place to place
Please Allow Me to Introduce Myself
(Borrowing a line from the Rolling Stones)
In January 2011, I was signed up for the Camp Pendleton Mud Run, a difficult 10k trail run occasionally interrupted by Marine Corp style obstacles. Notice that I said “I was signed up” rather than “I signed myself up”. While there was a bit of concession––”Alright, alright…I’ll do it”––the impetus for running the race was my girlfriend’s insistence, not some innate desire to go out and run 6.2 miles.
A little bit of background: prior to being signed up for this race, I could have probably counted the number of miles I had run the prior year with my two hands. I went through an occaisional exercise regiment here and there, but was certainly not in very good shape (though “good shape”, of course, is slightly a relative term). I battled with smoking on and off, often losing the battle to that difficult habit. I didn’t pay too much attention to what I ate, though my passion for cooking already kept me from eating poorly. So when the race confirmation hit my inbox, I knew that I was going to have to start making some changes.
I started running the very next week. I’ve always been able to sustain running 3 miles without stopping, so I started with that three times a week. A month later I completely quit smoking, focused more on my diet, and started to increase my mileage. As it turned out, I quite enjoyed running. I ran the 10k in June of that year with an 8:20 mi/pace (factoring out the time spent swimming, crawling, and climbing).
But things didn’t stop there. I kept up with my weekly mileage during the months that followed, decided to run an endurance race, and ultimately completed the LA Marathon in March 2012. Since then I have signed up for a number of races, ranging from 10ks to half-marathons, and plan to run another full marathon this December.
I am a very analytical person and, therefore, tend to think a lot about whatever it is that I am presently involved in. As such, this blog will primarily be a record of things that I am learning, mistakes that I have made, or, simply, observations that I would like to share––Oh(!), and let us not forget “the occasional picture”.
Who?
The random musings of an everyday runner whose atypical facination with everything to do with running compels him to write.
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