Since I've been running for 20 years, this first post detailing my entire career mile-by-mile is going to be quite a doozy. On second thought, the Chiefs/Broncos games kicks off shortly and I do have to work in the morning, so that's probably not the best plan. I'd probably lose steam before I started documenting all the excitement from 1998 anyway. In lieu of a complete history, I'll kick this blog off with an abbreviated background, some recent history and my plans for the 2014 running season.
Although I've run recreationally since college, I had only ran 3 5Ks and one sprint triathlon through 2009. In 2010 that changed significantly for reasons that will be the subject of a future post. In 2011, after a decade or so of cajoling from my girlfriend/fiancé/wife, I registered for and ran my first marathon in Hartford. The longest distance I'd raced before Hartford was a 10K, but that first marathon started an exciting (occasionally expensive and painful) journey.
My philosophy on running races is to use them as a springboard to visit interesting and/or favorite places. Having lived in Berkeley between 2003-2005, the San Francisco Marathon has been on my radar for a while. Finally my wife and I decided 2014 would be a good time to visit the Bay Area again, and running the marathon would be as good an excuse as any to make the journey. On a bit of a whim, I submitted an application to the San Francisco Marathon Ambassadors after registering for the race and receiving an email notification about the program. I mostly forgot about applying and assumed my services were not needed until a couple weeks ago when I received the invitation to join the team. So here I am. For good or ill. Which, has yet to be determined.
I'm still in the process of learning about what SFMAs do, but I thought a blog would be a good way to start contributing. Along the way, I want to include some stories about my experiences running - why I do it, personal philosophy, interesting races I've run, training "tips" and whatever else seems relevant. Maybe this will be interesting and useful to other people. Or maybe not. We'll have to see.
2013 has been my busiest racing year so far, and I can feel it in my legs. I have completed 26 races already and have 3 more on the calendar. This schedule included 3 marathons and my first half ironman. Despite occasionally planning to the contrary, I always end up racing hard whenever I toe the starting line of a race. Since I always fail miserably at casual race participation, I'm planning to ratchet back on racing in 2014 (sort of). In addition to the San Francisco Marathon in July, I'll be looking to complete the LA/SF Challenge by running the LA Marathon in March. I've already registered for the Pumpkinman Half Ironman in September. The Willi-Whammer Half Marathon (April) and Soapstaone 24K Trail Race (May) are also in the mix. If my legs are still attached to my torso in the fall, I want to make my trail marathon debut in October's Nipmuck Trail Marathon. Pepper in a few local shorter races and I'll almost certainly fail in my goal to race less.
And away we go.....
My philosophy on running races is to use them as a springboard to visit interesting and/or favorite places. Having lived in Berkeley between 2003-2005, the San Francisco Marathon has been on my radar for a while. Finally my wife and I decided 2014 would be a good time to visit the Bay Area again, and running the marathon would be as good an excuse as any to make the journey. On a bit of a whim, I submitted an application to the San Francisco Marathon Ambassadors after registering for the race and receiving an email notification about the program. I mostly forgot about applying and assumed my services were not needed until a couple weeks ago when I received the invitation to join the team. So here I am. For good or ill. Which, has yet to be determined.
I'm still in the process of learning about what SFMAs do, but I thought a blog would be a good way to start contributing. Along the way, I want to include some stories about my experiences running - why I do it, personal philosophy, interesting races I've run, training "tips" and whatever else seems relevant. Maybe this will be interesting and useful to other people. Or maybe not. We'll have to see.
2013 has been my busiest racing year so far, and I can feel it in my legs. I have completed 26 races already and have 3 more on the calendar. This schedule included 3 marathons and my first half ironman. Despite occasionally planning to the contrary, I always end up racing hard whenever I toe the starting line of a race. Since I always fail miserably at casual race participation, I'm planning to ratchet back on racing in 2014 (sort of). In addition to the San Francisco Marathon in July, I'll be looking to complete the LA/SF Challenge by running the LA Marathon in March. I've already registered for the Pumpkinman Half Ironman in September. The Willi-Whammer Half Marathon (April) and Soapstaone 24K Trail Race (May) are also in the mix. If my legs are still attached to my torso in the fall, I want to make my trail marathon debut in October's Nipmuck Trail Marathon. Pepper in a few local shorter races and I'll almost certainly fail in my goal to race less.
And away we go.....
Excited to read your journey!
ReplyDeleteI'm running the LA Marathon too. I hope we can meet there!
Sounds like a plan Wes. I'll probably be in LA Friday. I did the Redding Marathon in January, and I know that I need 48 h or so to acclimate to traveling cross country. I highly recommend that marathon since it looks like you do a lot of west coast races BTW.
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