A little running history...

My name is Tom and I a 32 year old runner living just north of Philadelphia. I started running in October of 2005 because my wife and I had just had a daughter and I was desperately out of shape. I used to play soccer, but the options for playing got smaller and smaller once I was out of school.

Needing a sport that I could do myself and would keep me from keeling over after carrying my daughter up the stairs, I turned to running. Now I did do some running in HS, primarily as a way to stay in shape for other sports. But I never self-identified as a runner or did any steady training.

This was not the first time since I left college that I resolved to get in shape. There were various mis-fires, including a number of aborted attempts to start running. Why did this one stick? I don't know. Maybe I was just fortunate to be able to start slowly enough to avoid injury. Or maybe having a child made me take it a little more seriously.

Regardless, the running stuck. I started to run a few races. My first 5k was in 10/2005 and I ran just under 24 minutes. Over the course of 2005 & 2006 I steadily ran more miles and more races and drove my 5k time under 20, then eventually under 19.

In the fall of 2006 I put together a training plan and, for the first time, identified and trained for a specific race (a half-marathon - the Philadelphia Distance Run). I started to learn about various training methodologies and put together a schedule based on the multi-pace philosophy of Jack Daniels, and more specifically Pete Pfitzinger. I ran weekly mileage averaging 30 miles with a few in the 40s. I successfully completed my training schedule and hit my goal time of 1:25 for the HM.

I really enjoyed the training and the feeling of setting a goal and succeeding. After a year or so of viewing running as a way to get in shape and lose weight I started to think that I was enjoying the competitive aspects of it just as much and beginning to think of myself as (in my local age group at least) a competitive runner.

Over the winter of 2006 and 2007 I identified my endurance as being the area of my running requiring the most work. I began to steadily build up mileage and run 40-50 miles a week. After just a few months of this, I saw enormous benefits with huge PRs in the 5k and 10 mile distances.

Over the summer of 2007 I spent a while on a dedicated focus on 5ks setting my current PR (16:39) in a race on the 4th of July.

As I headed into the fall I decided to set an aggressive goal for the HM again and setup a similar training plan, albeit with increased mileage, to the plan I ran in 2006. I was able to complete the plan, but struggled with over-training. My confidence in my abilities to do big workouts and high mileage slightly exceeded my abilities. Regardless, I was able to maintain enough fitness and complete enough workouts to hit my goal and set a major new HM PR at 1:16 on 9/16.

Since this race my focus has been on easy mileage and recovering from some of the overuse strains I was feeling. I have a list of races I'm looking at for the rest of the fall, but the only definite at this point is another half marathon at the Philly Marathon on 11/18.

So why blog? And why now?

I think one of the huge advantages that runners have today is that there is an enormous community of runners on the net sharing their experiences via blogs, forums and the like. I've gotten so much from the groups that I read and participate in, and the authors of other blogs that I thought it was time to put another running blog out there, hopefully help other people learn from my mistakes and maybe find suggestions from people who will help me avoid new ones. :)

So there you go.