Skip to main content

Run Paul Run -- Post #1


In April of 2018 I decided to start running.  We're talking just a mile or two a few times a week.  It was the first time in almost 25 years. Actually, it was the first time I started running in 25 years that I did not have to give up after only a few days due to knee pain.  I had run in college for Rugby, and I had run shortly after college to stay in shape in the off season for a summer mountain guide job. A long run then might have been 5-6 flat road miles.  I stopped running in my 20s.  I didn't want to.  My knees wanted to.  If I ran to the mailbox I would have knee pain for weeks.  I started visiting doctors for knee pain when I was 16 (I'm 49 now). I have probably visited at least 10 different doctors over the years to figure out how to fix the pain.  None helped. In the months leading up to April 2018 I finally decided to fix it myself, I researched, I experimented, I started walking, then hiking, then running...slowly...after the summer I had enough confidence and I kept going and turned to the trails and added miles...and how that all unfurled is a story for another post.

I decided to start this blog because as I started to research running and races I found that a lot of advice was written by runners (duh?).  Once you become a runner, you forget what it was like to not be a runner.  When I was researching races I really wanted to hear from someone who was new and not someone who has years of experience under their belt and is marathon ready the day after running a marathon.  Even if the words were the same, somehow it would make me feel more comfortable if I knew the person was also inexperienced...and afraid.

I was also looking for a perspective from someone old...older.  As I read blog posts, watch YouTube videos, and listen to podcasts, there are many "younger" runners giving their take on running and training.  What a 20 something runner believes is true is true when you are 20 something, but they have no idea what it is like to be an average 50 something year old and how family, work, and aging impacts one's mind and body.  Yes, when I was 20 something I could train 2x a day, easily survive on 5 hours of sleep each night, and survived entire week long backpacking trips on Twizzlers and Ramen...that is not true anymore and I could never have imagined that 20+ years ago.

So please keep one thing in mind as you read...I am new to the sport of trail running, I am just about to hit 50 years old, and I have no idea what I am doing.  



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Race Report -- 2018 Trailmixer's Fall Fling 400 -- Post #2

If you'd like some context for this post ... click here . In May of 2018 I started researching to find my first trail race and came across the Trailmixer's Fall Fling 400. I ignored it at first because with a group name like Trailmixers, and an event named the Fall Fling, I thought it was some kind of singles get together.  After learning that running on a single track was a type of trail and not a slang description of one's current relationship status, I went back and did more reading about it.  By June I thought it would be the perfect race to enter because you could run the 2 mile loop as many times as you’d like.  You get to create your own end.   A race ending which could be personally tailored to a runner’s own needs...and the price was perfect at $40.  In July I decided to do it...trust that my knees were back in business, train for the Fall Fling and become an Ultra-runner(insert echo here). Yes, when you are new, and nervous, it ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Post # 3 The Unofficial "6 Hours at the Reservoir!" Non-Race Event Race Report

Pic used with permission by Jimmy Mac   If you'd like some context for this post ... click here . Yesterday I took part in the Unofficial "6 hours at the Reservoir!" It was held next to the Quillinan Reservoir in Seymour, CT.  I am not sure why it was unofficial...it does makes me wonder where the "official" run is held. Hmmmm... The Race was put on by Jimmy Mac of Live Loud Running , and at this moment I still do not know if his last name is in fact Mac, or if it is short for something else. Despite the fact that Jimmy says "rad" a lot in his videos , and apparently likes to mark race courses in a manner that challenges the runners (two ribbons with one on the left above the other at a trail intersection means take a left Jimmy, not go straight), he put on an awesome "old school" event. Check out his website for Live Loud Running for future events. As someone who is an older "new" runner and building time on trail and m...
Post a Comment
Read more