Running Thoughts

4.8.26: Runner Type

I'm often asked what type of runner I am: a road runner or a trail runner? And the honest answer is that I'm both. There are days that I want nothing more than to be in the remoteness of a great trail where you can here the sounds of nature. Wind, river, birds. It's all so calming and makes me feel that I'm actually a part of it. But on other days, I desperately want to be in the city, running down a street with cars zipping by and people moving everywhere. The energy is contagious and the constant distraction welcomed on some of those hard runs. In both settings, I do usually listen to music. I have some very ugly Bose headphones that do not block the ear. The speakers are slightly above the ear canal so that one can hear the surroundings while still getting great sound quality for the music. But, as I mentioned, they are quite ugly and have a little bit of a fit issue. When I think back to why I started running in the first place (my early 30s), it was because MP3 players came out and music was extremely portable. I tend to listen to fairly quiet, calm music that joins me for the ride more than propelling me forward. So perhaps it's not road vs. trail that best defines the type of runner I am, but instead music vs. no music. I am firmly in the music camp.

4.3.26: The good, the bad, and the ugly

What makes a good day for a run or a bad day for run has very little to do with any type of external circumstance. I've had great runs on days that were freezing cold and in deep snow, and I've had horrible runs on the most beautiful of days. What really determines a run is what is going on inside, both physically and emotionally. However, of the two, the physical has repeatedly shown that it is the most important determinant on performance. Have I eaten healthy food? Am I hydrated? Did I get enough sleep? Have I been stretching after runs consistently? When my body is not doing well, my runs don't go well. In addition, I tend have worse days. I think there's a lesson for myself here.

3.4.26: Daylight

This weekend is the start of daylight savings time, one of my absolute favorite days of the year. I love more daylight in the evening. It makes running after work so much easier and enjoyable. It brings me great joy and brightens my day (yay puns!) In other news, this past weekend, Katherine and I ran a 10K. This marks an escalation in my training and begins the march towards the first half marathon in this training cycle. I'm very excited about the half as I think I will be better prepared for it than I have been for a half in a long time. Preparation is key for any challenge, and sometimes that prep doesn't go quite as planned. So far, things are looking up and my running is doing exactly what I wanted it to: providing structure, goals, and a sense of accomplishment. And in other, other news, I entered the NYC marathon lottery last month and today was the drawing. I have run this marathon twice and it is truly one of the most fantastic things I have ever done. I discovered today that the chances of being selected in the lottery this year was 1%, down from 2% last year. Wow. Needless to say, I didn't get in. My hope is to find another one around that time (also, around my birthday) to wrap up 2026. 

2.26.26: Every Moment in Its Time

I am now about 1/3 through my marathon training and have a 10K this weekend. During training there have been mostly very good runs, but there have also been the occasional bad runs. Yesterday was one of those days. It was fairly discouraging and I don't really have a good explanation for why it went poorly. It just did. Similarly, every day seems like a roller coaster of good and bad. It's a mix of doing what I enjoy and doing what I must. This is particularly pronounced this year in a way that I have not encountered before. It makes me a little sad because in the past I mainly enjoyed most of what each day brought with very little hesitation. However, yesterday morning, a peculiar phrase popped into my head that has helped me frame this development in my life: Every moment in its time. I pondered this for a while trying to decipher its meaning, why it was conjured from my unconsciousness. And what I think it means is that each moment of life is packed with meaning, possibility, and the essence of being alive. Each of those moments are the sum of what we call a life and none of them should be skipped, for in skipping them we are missing a part of our lives, a part of what makes us us. So each moment has a particular time that it needs to exist. What I need to always remind myself is that each moment, good or bad, is essential and needs to be lived.

2.5.26: Run

For the last few longer runs, I have had really one continuous thought: "Run, run, run, run, run, run..." etc. That's about it. Very cathartic.

1.20.26: Rock

Difficulties are a part of life, I suppose. We all have them and they pop up unexpectedly so often. They may be emotional, they may be physical, they may be social. And sometimes all of those combine to make a big mess of things. Over the last few days, I have encountered many people that have unseen difficulties. You would not look at them and think there are problems, but then they pop up. Resilience is a tough thing to learn as it is only developed by going through difficulty after difficulty, but resilience is often the very quality that is necessary to get through the current "thing". It's a difficult trait to develop without experiencing the low points of life. So if you're one of those that is going through some valleys right now, please hold on tight. It may be those very valleys that turn you into the strong person you were meant to be and the rock that you can be for someone else.

1.18.26: Joy

Today was the first race that I've done in a long time, and it was the first race in my own private distance challenge. It was a 5K. The rest of my distance challenge is a 10K (in Feb), two half marathons (Apr and May), and a marathon (Jun). While it was by far my slowest 5K ever, I'm really excited that I finished in my goal time of (just) under 30 minutes. I actually didn't think I could do that, but everything just clicked. What I most loved about the race was that my mind was almost completely clear. I couldn't tell you what I was thinking about ever except to breathe and to run. That's it. And for today I call that joy.

1.16.26: Thinking Allowed

What is it really to think about your own thinking? This is metacognition and I am curious how often people really think about their own process of thinking. One of the many things that I teach in my classroom is how to engage in metacognition, but I don't know that I explicitly use that term very often. Perhaps I should. However, thinking through processes and ideas is extremely important as it prevents snap judgements that are based purely on emotion and allows for rational thinking to prevail. Long ago, before cell phones, I feel that I engaged in this process much more than I do now. Standing in line, eating lunch, sitting at home all allowed for time to think and process. Now it seems there is little time to just be alone with my thoughts. Perhaps that is something that needs to be more cultivated now in my life. Instead of taking for granted that I have that time to process information, I need to carve that time out of my "busy" day. I can't forget that we are indeed allowed to think.

1.1.26: Non-judgement

I love to run. It's probably my favorite thing to do even though I am wildly inconsistent at doing it. Over the years, I have run a great many races (here's the lifetime list of races I've run) and have loved challenging myself at every one of them. Sometimes I'm challenged to run my fastest time possible and sometimes I'm challenged to just get up and do it again at all. What I most love about running, though, is that it removes me from my normal thoughts and worries. Most of the time I don't think about anything. But sometimes some clarifying thoughts about life seep into my head.

This past year has been one where I feel that I have been put into a cosmic crucible in some attempt at being refined. A lot of detritus builds up over the years and it is very easy to let that accumulation drag me down and keep me from being who I really am, or at least the parts of me that I value as representative of myself. This holiday break has been a quiet time which has allowed me to listen to that inner voice from my past that keeps reminding me that there are important parts of myself that I need to tend to. Philosophy, art, spirituality, being a friend, reflection, quietness, and of course running.

Over the past two weeks, running has been an integral part of the healing process from this year. It has given me time to be quiet and reflect. It has shown me there is much to my early life that has been forgotten and needs to resurface. And it has taught me to look at daily life as a gift that is not to be squandered on unworthy things. Years ago I kept a public blog on my webpage and it was a good thing as it was a place that I could post my own reflections and a place where ideas could possibly be ignited in others. I may continue this, or I may not. But I do know that as I move forward, my goal is to work toward a non-judgmental attitude, where I take each moment, person, thought, and action at face value. And to keep running.