2 Years of Running Notes

How did it go, Runner?

January 10, 2015 · 4 mins read

“How did it go, Peter?” is the placeholder that greets me in the Notes section when completing a run using RunKeeper. It’s unobtrusive, yet alluring. If you have not noticed it yet, it looks like this. It’s sandwiched between your run statistics and the obtrusive social media swagger mode.

When I started running on January 2, 2013 (a new years resolution started one day late), I thought “I’m going to write something in there”. Here is what I wrote.

Breathless. Running = hard!!!

1 Jan 2013, 2.55 km, 6:42 min/km

This was after an embarrassing (only in hindsight) run. I didn’t even run the full distance.

I’ve now been running consistently for 2 years, and in that time decided to write something into the alluring “How did it go, Peter?” about 70% of the time. Here are the major themes I’ve categorised the running notes into.

Food

Obviously I felt hungry enough during this run to justify the use of the word juicy twice.

People cooking juicy juicy BBQ steak & sausages at night when I go running should be shot.

18 Jan 2013, 5.22 km, 6:40 min/km

Sometimes I had the wrong type of food before a run.

Bleh. Cake NOT like run!

22 Jan 2013, 5.27 km, 7:11 min/km

Or drink.

Learn to love the pain (with 2 beers)

20 Dec 2013, 2.84 km, 4:39 min/km

Of course sometimes I didn’t have enough.

Insufficient Input

4 Apr 2014, 5.08 km, 5:24 min/km

Go through the motions

Sometimes I felt like an object.

Object->Eat,Sleep,Work,Repeat

8 Apr 2014, 4.16 km, 5:13 min/km

Or was trying to outrun the residue of the week.

Shit run for a shit week.

14 Mar 2014, 4.32 km, 6:03 min/km

Or was on autopilot.

Can’t be fu..ahh, “Recovery”. Yeah. That’s it. Recovery.

5 Jun 2014, 5.11 km, 6:00 min/km

The Hill

Let me introduce you to my nemesis. The Hill. It is not just a hill. It is a foreboding presence. Just looking at a photo of it fills me with dread.

When I try to ignore it, it calls to me.

From its shadow I feel it’s pull. Come. Climb me. I am. The Hill.

5 Mar 2014, 3.14 km, 5:12 min/km

And when I finally give in, or find myself attempting to run up it and not knowing how I got there, it asserts itself.

The Hill Angry!

7 Mar 2014, 6.75 km, 5:52 min/km

And then sometimes, just sometimes, I put the wrong things right.

The one that I punish The Hill.

22 Apr 2014, 4.13 km, 5:17 min/km

There is also a special section of The Hill which is called The Paul, when run in reverse, as fast as you can.

The Paul

16 Jun 2014, 0.71 km, 3:28 min/km

Feeling Good

The reason I kept running was because of the experience. I loved it, and it’s reflected in the majority of my running notes.

From Friday to Sunday I Make My Girls Go Wild

12 Jul 2013, 4.01 km, 5:30 min/km

I won’t even make it to the shore without your light…

20 Oct 2013, 7.03 km, 5:28 min/km

Couldn’t change the magnetism at this rate I’m traveling

02 Dec 2013, 3.89 km, 5:03 min/km

<3 “The Hill” - This is My Clarity

06 Jan 2014, 7.02 km, 5:58 min/km

Chilly Bright not Stormy Night, but still … Paradise

14 Jun 2014, 3.09 km, 4:58 min/km

The other 30% of the time I didn’t write a running note. Sometimes you just need to run. Try putting your feelings and thoughts into a running note after your next run.