Carnival of Runners - Week 6

Looks like the blog party's at my place this week. Come on in and have a look around.

There's a few other folks here today that you may not have met. As I introduce them to you, I will also share two realizations I've come to about running blogs.

First, running blogs are not about running as much as they are about the people who write them. We've all seen running blogs that are little more than training logs - times, distances, perhaps a note or two jotted about how things went. These are sites that I won't return to. Race reports also get long and boring if I don't know anything about the person; unless I can root for them it won't take me long to DNF.

That being said, Dietgirl needs little introduction. Three paragraphs into her blog entry we're right there rummaging around with her looking for safety pins. From there we're on board all the way through her first 5k, and when its done we've got a new friend.

Wil also doesn't need an introduction, as she makes us privy to a conference between body, mind & heart and in so doing lays out the anxieties, frailties and inner conflicts that arise as she prepares to face "the hurricane." That hurricane was last weekend's Sunburst Marathon, and you can go here if you want to find out how it ends.

Jeff gets us rooting for him on his ride to the race. That triumph just sets the stage, however, for what is to come in his running the Fontana Half Marathon. On reading this, its worth going back several entries in his blog and reading some about his training, which builds up to the race which he describes in his featured entry.

Speaking of buildups, Chelle is tapiring (sic) for Grandma's Marathon. Again, you can read up on her training and then prepare to root for her to do well in her race in a week from this Saturday.

I'll introduce myself here as well. To know me is to know that I mix my running preoccupation with a preoccupation with the mosaic of alternately gritty, green, crumbling, transforming and built up spaces which comprise the Philly streets on which I run. My best runs happen when I feel pulled into some aspect of my surroundings, as I did here.

To read Alison's blog is to get to know someone by her running. Along with the miles she runs, running defines her job and, in her latest posts, her vacation. Thus it is natural that in writing about her running, she can't but share the rest of her life as well.

My second realization is that running blogs are not about running as much as they are about finding people with whom we can share experiences, emotions, and sensations. Thus in reading Riona's account of running her first race, her description of the atmosphere and "the buzz" around the race lets us recall our early races. Similarly my local boy Scott is at that exciting stage where he is looking for his limits, and finding big pr's along the way. Thomas shares the trials and hopes involved with something we will all experience if we stick with this bloody sport long enough, and also expresses the euphoria we all share as bloggers upon getting read.

And I will end with the confession that I didn't run today. Although I assure you I have good reasons for this, I don't need Jonathan to cast a "blank spot on [my] tubby soul," as I'm perfectly capable of doing that myself. Don't scowl, if you run you've been there as well.

Now that we've all gotten to know each other, and ourselves, a bit better, its time to round up the dogies, piss on the campfire, and send y'all back home. It's getting late and I have to get up early tomorrow to run. It was nice meeting you and drop by again sometime. And if you are ever (physically) in Philadelphia, drop a line to me and my homies here and we'll be sure to fix you up with whatever run you might be looking to do.