An Introduction

"I've been running a lot for the past 6 months. I think I can't stay away from the feeling of balance and gratitude I get when I have to fight, and win.

Today it was raining freezing water onto the earth by my house. I got home from work dreading the feeling of ice cold water dripping down the middle of my back, paralyzing me with that awful bone chill. I put on my shoes and my gamer wife strapped on hers too, even when she was sick today. We set off for 5 miles in this mess. During my first quarter mile I stepped in my first huge puddle and filled my shoes with cold gelatinous fluid hell bent on wrapping it's tentacles around each individual toe and strangling it to death. I then repeated the puddle incident over and over for the next 48 minutes. When I got home, I got in the shower filled with endorphins from my victory over the elements and my own personal discomfort. As I was feeling the stabbing pain of my sensation coming back into my toes as the hot water thawed them, I had a thought. Very rare thought. It is when the conditions are uncomfortable that you really learn to fight. When you are wanting out and fight to the death you build perseverance. This is mental training. These are the times that you really get the good stuff. You may hate it at the time, but when it's over and you are still standing, you realize that there isn't much that can stop you. 

The wise runner will lace them up in 6 inches of snow, icy sidewalks and trails, freezing rain, staggering wind, the dead of night, the mist of the morning, in anger and sadness, when ill, when exhausted from a horrendous day at work, when your legs hurt, and especially when you want to give up. These are the very moments that train you to push on both to the next mile and in your life."

The above was a post I wrote a couple of months ago before the "Polar Tarantula" or whatever descended from Santa's home to mine. Almost two solid months of the worst running conditions possible. Snow, ice, -30 Degrees, wind, snow, -40 degrees. I hate running indoors. I didn't get addicted to running by running indoors. I want to see the world, even if it is the same stretch of world many times a week. I get to be chased by dogs and slip and fall dodging a car. I get to step in cold puddles and battle my bowels with only trees in sight. 

This blog will speak about my own personal experience with running and with life. I'll post running logs, race journals, and minor and major victories and defeats on my way to running my first full marathon next October. 

If you have been reading my insearchofwhales.com blogs, I will be ending these the same way as I end those; with the words "Sing." "Migrate." For those new to my blogs, these words are referencing studies that have shown that whales in captivity do not sing as they do when in the wild. When in the wild, whales sing to find each other and migrate to find one another. In captivity, there is no one to find and no where to go. This has inspired my life because I believe we are nothing without each other and need each other desperately for happiness. So I sing and I migrate, in search of the rest of you. 

Sing.
Migrate.