Here's a Quarter

Last week's
Take it and Run Thursday (for which I am fashionably late to the party) asks a simple question - how does blogging influence your running? On the surface, it might not sound like going outside, running hard, and sweating your butt off doesn't seem like an activity that would mesh well with sitting at your computer and banging out your thoughts. But in actuality, these two things mesh together really well.

When you become passionate about running, it consumes you. Every step you take, every bite you eat, every change in the weather gives you something running-related to think about. And you want to talk (read: obsess) about it as much as you possibly can.

The trouble is, we are surrounded by non-runners. If you're lucky, one of them will listen to you politely while their brain switches into screen-saver mode, waiting for you to stop boring them. But more likely, you'll be met with one of the classic non-runner responses of:

• I don't know how you do it.


• How long is your marathon?


• Must be nice if you have the time.


• Running? I only run if I'm being chased.
  

The non-runners think that last one is especially hilarious. Too bad we've all heard it a million times.

But start a blog, and all of a sudden, you will have friends who are every bit as excited about running as you are. Not only would they love to hear about the awesome tempo run you just had, they actually know what a tempo run is. They are more than willing to indulge your going back and forth about which marathon to run in the fall, your concern about the updates Asics is making to your shoes, and fully understand why you paid that much money for socks.

In essence, by starting a blog, you have unlimited quarters to call somebody who cares.