2. Intent

I’ve started a blog. I also just learned that blog is short for weblog. Cool!

Now that I’ve introduced myself and we have post #1 as a common base, I want to talk about why I’m here. What’s the point of this blog?

What do I intend to do with it?

What do I want to get out of it, and what do I hope it can be for you, my audience.

Running’s a big part of my life. I’ve come to build my days and my lifestyle around it. It’s perpetually on my mind, to the point where I weigh a lot of my day-to-day decisions against planning my next run, my next race, my next big goal. Along with that, it’s evolved to a sort of spiritual, meditative practice. I can’t imagine my life without it, and I feel lost when I’m without it for even a few days.

I sweat a lot about it, and I’ve reached a point where I want to capture all those thoughts swirling around in my head and put them down on our screens. And in doing so, I aim to use this log for a few things:

To Reflect

Like I said, a lot of my life right now revolves around running. For how many calories I put into it (both actually running and also thinking about it), I’d like to know what the heck I’m doing it all for. I’ve realized that reason evolves and morphs and waxes and wanes so much over time. Reflecting helps me ensure that I’m on a track (or road or trail, hehe) that I want to be on. It also helps me in assessing how running is serving me and making sure that I’m happy every step of the way. This is a way for me to capture my thoughts real-time, sort them out, dissect, break down, understand, and maybe even drink some of my own kool-aid and convince/affirm myself.

To detail the “convince myself” bit: I’ve developed some really serious, lofty goals. A lot of times I’m clearheaded and motivated. Other times I feel beat down and exhausted by the process and the mental/emotional strain of sticking to these goals. Gaps, breaks, other priorities happen, but fortunately I’ve always faithfully come back to running. Maintaining this blog is kind of a string that can help yo-yo me back when I feel lost, especially when fortune and faith aren’t convenient.

To Become Fluent in the Sport (again) and the Gear!

In my first couple years of running (~2018-2020), I quickly became obsessed in learning how to be a better runner and how to choose the right gear. I’d binge YouTube videos from running influencers and shoe reviewers, hoping to scrape every bit of knowledge to improve my form or get the best shoe for my type of running.

Since then, that fervor has slowed down quite a bit. Rightfully so. My shoe collection has grown too large to practically use while keeping up with the rapid seasonal product changes. I feel like I now have very little awareness on what’s going on in the world of running. And honestly, I sometimes feel like an imposter about shoes and other running things. There’s probably deeper psychological distortions I should work through in that last statement, but the overarching feeling is that I do sincerely want to be deeper than I currently am. I think posting regularly to this blog will help me to stay current.

This is also a nice way for me to aggregate the knowledge I collect.

To Practice My Writing

I’m not super confident in my writing and speech! If you’ve spoken to me in person, you might notice I spend a good amount of time stumbling over words, either hunting for the right way to say something or struggling to consolidate my thoughts. I’m self conscious of that. So this is practice for me to organize my thoughts and share them in my voice. I do get a good bit of practice writing in my 9-5 work, but that tends to be technical lawyer-y writing. This blog gives me more range to develop and express my own style of speaking.

To Share What I Learn Along the Way

I like to share. My immediately accessible, convenient friends have the pleasure (or curse) of learning real-time some factoid I picked up or whatever product I’m currently obsessing over. I do my due diligence though, so I’m generally confident in what I’m sharing and that it’s done in good faith. I do take pride that I’ve had a lot of friends reach out to me for running shoe recommendations (and that they worked out!).

There’s a lot I’ve learned so far in this running journey. This ranges from very discrete topics, like injury prevention methods and running shoe construction, to more abstract ones, like how running “seriously” can fit in the life of a 9-to-5’er and what success looks and feels like in racing. I do my best to share my experiences through Instagram posts and stories. That’s really the only form of social media I maintain. But I’ve realized it isn’t well-suited for long-form writing discussion. So I consider this blog an extension of the practice I’ve started on Instagram.

Ok I think that’s enough writing (and reading, for you) for today. Thank you for your eyes.

February 10, 2023 / Revised March 18, 2023