A log by any other name

Allow me to ramble...

After reading Anton Krupicka's blog this morning and being bewildered again by what he does week-in and week-out (189 miles last week, 170 the week before, 170 the week before that - most of it up a giant mountain, quickly, with no shirt on, and meticulously recorded), it occurred to me that my online ego monument has strayed far from its original intent. My little sidebar descriptor thingy over there on the right claims that I will chart my progress. And that really was what I planned to do. Yet, no weekly summaries, no in-depth race reports, very few instances of adding up the minutes spent breathing heavily and sweating profusely. Just some sparse prose on a very infrequent basis.

I do actually record my running times...most of the time. But sometimes I don't. I do calculate my weekly mileage and try to keep track of kilometer or mile split times during the very few speed work sessions I attempt to do. This is not done as much for the reason it should be done - to train scientifically, to monitor any physiological benefits, to reflect upon past workouts as a means to learn from mistakes already made (and there have been many). Rather, I admit that I like knowing that I am, on paper, a better runner at 38 than I was at 23. I like that the numbers support my claim that I am in better shape now than I have ever been in before. Vanity, I suppose. I don't run the super-mileage of Krupicka or Donaldson or Karnazes (though I do now wear North Face shoes like Karnazes does), nor even come close to approaching the pace of many runners my own age (or older), but no matter.

I do enjoy every moment I'm out there - on beautiful spring days when I feel light and strong, in inclement weather when my legs feel their heaviest or when my right knee aches. I run to think, alternately to engage or to disconnect, and that is what this site has become for me. Sometimes I record those thoughts here, more often I don't. As it has been from my first few and heavy steps in January 1994, I am caught up in the potential for change that running allows.

We do have a few things sneaking up on us quickly. Deanna and I, along with some Sea Bassers from work, are doing a half marathon on May 2nd. Six weeks after that, and a few days after our much-anticipated ten day tour of Turkey with our very good friend Altay, an actual Turk, we will run approximately 85km each of the 211km Ultrabalaton relay in Hungary. Then, if all goes as we hope, in September we'll try to become the first foreigners to complete the TransKorea 308km in that event's history. Beyond that, some Himalayan hiking and fodder for a future post.