Real David H.

I’m 3! It’s my blogiversary

Three years ago tomorrow, this site got its start. Well, sort of.

I did start a running blog three years ago with the intention of documenting my training for the Richmond Marathon. The next day I was supposed to run a 5K to help kick things off. I woke up sick and thus began a string of really bad Aprils.

This blog has gone through a lot of changes in its first three years – as I moved from Lynchburg to Richmond, it changed names; then I changed the blogging service I used; and then I moved back to the Lynchburg area and have now changed this to a dot com. I hope this is it.

So, thank you to everyone who has been along for this journey, and a special welcome to those of you who are relatively new.

Changing April 24

On April 24, 2008, I lost my job. Last year on April 24, something happened that changed my job that sped up my search for something else. This April 24 is a Saturday, so nothing bad career-wise should happen. Plus I really like what I’m doing now, so this April 24 I can focus on running the Blue Ridge Half Marathon on the Parkway. This will be a challenge like no other – click here to read my post from just before I launched this site. It’s going to be grueling and completely unlike any race I have ever done.

Here are a couple of recent media stories about the race:
Roanoke Times: Great story on how to inspire an athlete. Also, be sure to check out the Roanoke Times’ interactive map of the marathon course. It’s very cool.

WSLS10: The race director says in this story that this race will “humble them pretty quickly,” addressing the elevation change of the marathon.

WDBJ7: In this story from March, race officials say this event is putting Roanoke in the national spotlight.

For more information on this event, visit www.blueridgemarathon.com, become a fan on Facebook and get updates on Twitter by following @BRM26pt2.

Boston??

I put this out there on Twitter today, but to qualify for the Boston Marathon, I’d have to do some crazy running. Crazy in that I would need to make my 5K pace my marathon pace. Could that happen? Sure, one day. But I need to get through my second marathon first to even think about what I want to do with my running. As great as things are going right now, I know how marathon training changed me three years ago. It wasn’t completely bad by any means, but I need things to be different this summer and fall.

I know my body and my abilities a lot more now than I did then. I’ve learned from my mistakes. Boston needs a two-year plan just to get to that starting line, and I’m not ready for that yet. Unless someone wants to be my personal trainer for free, Boston will just remain an unspoken goal.