Welcome

Hi, my name is Alan and this is my running story,

Back in the day, I loved running. I was addicted to it. I wasn't fast, never won races, but I loved to run. When cross country season ended, I got depressed. Running always made me feel good (endorphins...FTW) and I felt better after a good run too.

My senior year of high school, I decided to run the Seattle Half Marathon, a good month and a half after XC season. I finished the race, but had both arches in my feet collapse. The blister on one foot was longer than I care to remember. (Sidenote: I had purchased an Australia Akubra hat the day before, and wearing it to school on Monday, combined with the limp, earned the name "Hop-a-long" from a few friends.)

And then I quit. I didn't ever say "I'm not doing this again!" I just stopped running. I didn't do track my senior year. When I went off to college, my dreams of being one of those joggers you see at 7 am was replaced by angrily shutting off alarm clocks and sleeping a few extra hours.

There were a few runs here and there. I bought new shoes to try to spark a comeback to the roads, but I could never get into the flow.

I graduated college, I got a job, and then I got the itch to run again. And, I will admit it, its because of this commercial:



I was sold. I wanted to run again. But, how do I get back the motivation?

Answer: I blog. I blog a lot. I run a personal blog, ran a blog about my study abroad experience to Australia, contribute to a few sports blogs. So, I figure'd I could blog about running.

The site will be more than posts consisting of "I went for a 2 miler today. Sunny outside, I enjoyed it...except for the hills LOLZ!" I want to do a lot more with this site than that. I want to help motivate, I want to put up training tips I find interesting, I want to explore what it means to run.

Also, I can't run everyday. Expect posts about biking, and maybe even lifting weights.

I should point out that I'm not a fitness freak. Far from it. I have a terrible diet, brought on mostly due to my house's close proximity to a Hardee's. By nature, I detest mornings, which is the only time I'll have to run. I drink more pop than should be legally allowed. Lets just say, this getting into shape and running and exercising on a regular basis thing is going to be hard.

One last thing, I feel I should explain the title. I tried to figure out what to name this thing for awhile. I wanted something better than "Alans Running Blog" but that seemed boring. I thought about a music lyric or a running quote, but nothing seemed to fit. And then, I started thinking about what I found rewarding about a run, and I thought of...a sweaty t-shirt. Its probably a quote somewhere, but sweat is your bodies reward system. It lets you know you had a good workout. At least for me, there is something highly rewarding about getting to admire the back of your own shirt before hopping in the shower.

I can't wait to get started,

Alan