TMI
Fourteen thousand thirty-six and a quarter. That’s 14,036.25, the number of miles I ran between March 22, 1978 and December 31, 2005. It’s a number to contemplate when I’m feeling I’m not a “real” runner because I don’t run a high weekly mileage or I’m not especially fast or I don’t use a heart monitor or I don’t have expensive running gear for rain or blah blah blah blah blah. Although liars may figure, figures don’t lie.
Considering I am an obsessive scribbler, it is not surprising that I have kept running logs throughout my entire running career (that’s career, not careen). The entry for April 22, 1978, one month after my first run:
Have been in the dumps and so missed 10 days (which went who knows where). Then yesterday @11:15 I ran from the house to the Children’s School (about a mile) and felt fine. This morning I went to the H.S. track and ran a bona fide mile in under 10 min. Took a while to hit my stride, but then felt great. Maybe the time off gave me a rest but didn’t ruin me! Have run a total of 14 days—which means I’ve barely begun. That’s heartening.
In 1989 (you figure out how long ago that was), I kept my log in a beautiful spiral-bound engagement calendar filled with Georgia O’Keeffe images and short writings by and about her. Here’s six days’ worth of entries, a series that reveals just how hooked I had become since the days of “...I’ve barely begun.”
Tuesday, March 14: (n.a.) [stands for “no alcohol,” something I’ve tracked on and off over the years] Quite sick w/either stomach flu or food poisoning.
Wednesday, March 15: (n.a.) Ran @ 2.25 mi. at E.C. High (24:31). Felt much better but not 100%.
Thursday, March 16: D [my son, who was 14 at the time] came down w/ flu.
Friday, March 17: Ran 3.25 mi. at King (33:19). 21 s. p-ups, 21 curls [s. p-ups are standing push-ups done against a bench or a fence, curls are what I used to call crunches until I learned the right term].
Saturday, March 18: Ran 3 mi. at King (31:34). 21 s. p-ups, ran the stairs [about 25 --I think--concrete steps leading frm the track up to the schoolyard] 3X.
Sunday, March 19: Swam 20 laps at King (@ 13 min.). Ran 2 mi. at King (20:29. 21 s. p-ups / 21 curls. [At the end of Sunday’s entry is a note that my weight was 122.5 lbs.]
And so forth. You get the idea. After moving to Berkeley in 1980, for many years I ran on that dirt track at King Jr. High. I came in my mind to call it Crucible Park. Every day it dared me to enter, and when I did, it spun me through all weathers and all moods; it heated me up, its fires crackled around me, and, finally, it burnished my soul into the nugget of whatever it is today.
This post is another part of the open-ended answer to my own question: Why do I run?
Considering I am an obsessive scribbler, it is not surprising that I have kept running logs throughout my entire running career (that’s career, not careen). The entry for April 22, 1978, one month after my first run:
Have been in the dumps and so missed 10 days (which went who knows where). Then yesterday @11:15 I ran from the house to the Children’s School (about a mile) and felt fine. This morning I went to the H.S. track and ran a bona fide mile in under 10 min. Took a while to hit my stride, but then felt great. Maybe the time off gave me a rest but didn’t ruin me! Have run a total of 14 days—which means I’ve barely begun. That’s heartening.
In 1989 (you figure out how long ago that was), I kept my log in a beautiful spiral-bound engagement calendar filled with Georgia O’Keeffe images and short writings by and about her. Here’s six days’ worth of entries, a series that reveals just how hooked I had become since the days of “...I’ve barely begun.”
Tuesday, March 14: (n.a.) [stands for “no alcohol,” something I’ve tracked on and off over the years] Quite sick w/either stomach flu or food poisoning.
Wednesday, March 15: (n.a.) Ran @ 2.25 mi. at E.C. High (24:31). Felt much better but not 100%.
Thursday, March 16: D [my son, who was 14 at the time] came down w/ flu.
Friday, March 17: Ran 3.25 mi. at King (33:19). 21 s. p-ups, 21 curls [s. p-ups are standing push-ups done against a bench or a fence, curls are what I used to call crunches until I learned the right term].
Saturday, March 18: Ran 3 mi. at King (31:34). 21 s. p-ups, ran the stairs [about 25 --I think--concrete steps leading frm the track up to the schoolyard] 3X.
Sunday, March 19: Swam 20 laps at King (@ 13 min.). Ran 2 mi. at King (20:29. 21 s. p-ups / 21 curls. [At the end of Sunday’s entry is a note that my weight was 122.5 lbs.]
And so forth. You get the idea. After moving to Berkeley in 1980, for many years I ran on that dirt track at King Jr. High. I came in my mind to call it Crucible Park. Every day it dared me to enter, and when I did, it spun me through all weathers and all moods; it heated me up, its fires crackled around me, and, finally, it burnished my soul into the nugget of whatever it is today.
This post is another part of the open-ended answer to my own question: Why do I run?
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