I appreciate the rhythm of my days when I am steeped in consistent writing practice. Draining my subconscious consciously by pouring words on the page is my favorite act of endurance. I write in a journal daily, one page of stream of consciousness in the morning after waking up, and one page including a list of daily gratitude(s) in the evening before lolling off to sleep. I rarely look back at what I wrote, the practice is not meant for critique but simply meant to do every day. I believe in and benefit from low stakes journal writing, but honing skills along with building endurance is vital, too. I love to design sentences that make an impact. I love to stack up meaning powered paragraphs. I write consistently to become a better writer, but I write stories to explore and communicate my thoughts creatively and effectively.
Last year whilst residing (hiding) in Vancouver, Canada I wrote a longer piece to capture the experience of living in a foreign country, but that amalgamation of words currently sits in the ‘filthy’ phase of a rough draft, raw and unreadable, but I think it could be shaped into a book worth sharing. Someday.
The moment after hitting my goal word count last November in Vancouver for my 2025 writing project, My Canadian Year.
Meanwhile, I need to keep writing.
Last December, back in LA after finishing a trail/road run workout.
Therefore, whilst editing My Canadian Year, (book/tome/blood-letting project), I am turning toward a cherished, yet stressful writing accountability challenge, weekly blog posts.
Since the theme of my life is endurance, I figured this week would be a fortuitous occasion to spark a blog practice because I am kicking off my twelve-week training block leading up the Boston marathon on April 20th.
The Boston Marathon Startling Line, Hopkinton, MA.
If you are a new here, Welcome! And thank you! Also, if you’re curious why marathons play a leading role in my life, feel free to read my first book 35 by 35: A Runner’s Quest, which can be found here.
I’ve run from Hopkinton to downtown Boston on four previous Mondays in April. First up, a warm afternoon on April 18th, 2005, then a frigid romp on April 20th, 2015, followed by a cataclysmic stormy event on April 16th, 2018, and then a slightly drizzly Covid-catching occasion on April 17th, 2023. I wanted to run it again in April 2025, but I couldn’t dodge the karmic blows the Universe kept swinging at me throughout 2024. In fact, for the first year since 2002, I didn’t line up for *any* marathons in 2024. Tragic. I promise to delve deeper into the that marathon “gap year” in upcoming posts, and bounce around the time space continuum whenever I deem it necessary to fill in a story within the larger story.
The finish line of my last race in Canada, the Stanley Park 10K last October. It was damp and lovely.
In essence, I will be writing about the nitty-gritty of workouts, highlighting one or two each week including distance, pace, nutrition, what their significance is for building fitness toward the race, and the emotions behind them. I will also answer/confront/divulge… confess, why I am doing any of it, still, after nearly thirty years of running marathons, and nearly losing my life while training for one, why is running, and specifically marathon running important to me? And why is the Boston marathon very important to me this year?
Finally, reading is a huge part of my writing practice, (I typically read one to two books per week), I will share how each book read in parallel to training has affected my mood and momentum every week.
The first post covering week one of twelve will be posted next Tuesday.
Giddy up.