About Me

I’ve just turned 28 and I’ve decided I want to do 28 amazing things this year. Running a marathon is only one of them.

1. I’ve never run a marathon
2. I’ve never run over 7 miles at one time
3. I hate running with people
4. I hate running while being timed
5. I hate running in the rain.

I think it’s time to change my perspective.

I have a few early-childhood memories of running, though which of them was my earliest, I have no idea. One in particular sticks out in my memory. I remember vacationing with the family in Duck, NC and asking my father to wake me up in the morning so that I might join him on his run. I wanted to be like my dad and running seemed like a good way to do it. He woke me up as promised and I ran with him – for what felt like miles (it was probably on a mile at most) until I quit and walked back while he kept on trucking. I remember feeling disappointment and amazement – I mean, shit! Running can’t be that hard! He continues to be my biggest running inspiration.

I never was a hard core runner but I do remember the summer of 2002 when I lived in Boston and running became a favored time of day with my buddy Tom. He would encourage me out of the apartment and in return, I’d encourage longer runs and sprints. It was an amazing summer of exploration on my feet and I got to know Boston more intimately than I ever would again. It was that year however that running would become more to me than exercise. This is where I first fell in love with running – using it as a coping method, a relaxation mechanism and an escape from the trials and tribulations of everyday life. I also found I could explore with more detail and finesse by doing it on my feet.

Over the last few years running has become a way to stay relatively fit, to get out an enjoy a nice evening or to occasionally get lost in thought. It has never returned to the same intensity of that summer of 2002, but this summer all of that will change. Its time to fall in love again.