Why Blog?

I’ve pondered for some time why it is that I blog. I haven’t done it forever and anyone that reads will know my posts have been far more sporadic than they used to be. This is not because I don’t have anything to say. I do. But there just hasn’t been any purpose to my running. Mainly because of injury. And without running what good is a running blog? 

I originally started my blog after following Steve Way’s and decided to largely plagiarise his format. It worked to give an overview of the week’s training and a place to put my introspective thoughts down in written form. I wrote it to support my own mental fragility that I wasn’t good enough or didn’t have the training banked to get the results in races I craved. I loved to see my own progress from week to week as I followed a clear plan.

Am I a narcissist? Maybe a bit. Depending on how a millennial is defined, I can just about claim to be one and as anyone knows that reads the popular press my generation are all about ‘me, me, me.’

Do I care about what people think of me? My training? Do people think I’m an idiot for my approach to training? Do folks think my anal scrutinisation of every aspect of my training to be dull, interesting, worthless? Do people think I’m a dreamer? Unrealistic? Talented? Lucky? Hard working? Inspiring? Do they ask: how can someone running 33:43 for 10k possibly have a chance, or even dare to believe he is capable of breaking 2:20 for the marathon in a matter of weeks?

Does any of this matter?

No.

I’ve always run for me. I’ve always blogged for me. I’ve made great life-long friends because of both these aspects of my life. It has helped mould me into the person I am today. For better or worse.

I am a runner. I am a blogger. I am a husband, a father and yes I am also a dreamer. I will chase my dreams, no matter how arbitrary they are. 

For without dreams we may as well be dead.