Kicking off

For the first time, I'm training for a marathon...again. I ran Chicago last year and finished, but it was pretty ugly and I didn't train for it. Not really. I think I ran distances above 10 miles 3 times ever before I ran Chicago in October 2005. So this year I'm training for New York, and I'm definitely being more disciplined about it. Let's keep our fingers crossed that I stay focused.

This blog is meant to help me stay disciplined. But it's also meant to help me see my progress as I increase my mileage over the next few months. It's also intended to help me remember the montage of amusing moments I see on my runs here in New York City and, specifically, in Central Park. It's probably hard to believe, but I don't run with an iPod (even though I have one), and since my running partners, Jenna and Scott, have decided to spend the summer and early fall in the Outer Banks of North Carolina, I run alone. So what do I do to work through the pain on a 13-mile run that can last over 2 hours? There's plenty to see - the gamut of characters that you can only find in a city like New York. There's a story behind everything, and on a long run you get a glimpse of each one if you take the time to look.

So here's to running - and to all the adventures along the way.