The 700

This seems hard to believe, but this is the 700th post I've written up on the old blog here. We'll say that maybe 300 of them have actually been interesting, 100 or so race reports, and about 500 with pictures of the kids. Since 2008 this space has been my outlet for creative expression and along the way I've been able to take some promotions and product reviews too. I gotta admit, I'm still hooked on blogging.

Blogging has lost its appeal over the last few years to society, but not to me. Long form essay writing on a particular topic has been shortened into a facebook status length or 140 character tweet. I don't even know what to think about instagram - it's like facebook for people who don't want to read that much. But I have to believe that there is still a space for bloggers to espouse one topic per post for some in depth knowledge dropping.

Just in case you've missed something over the last 699 posts, I used to blog about the struggles of someone training for their first marathon, then his first Ironman, then another ironman, then another ironman, and all of the struggles that go along with it. The ebbs and flows of goal setting over the course of a year and how the family puts up with all of my crazy goals leads to some interesting dynamics. The transformation I've gone through since 2008 is more than just from smoker to endurance athlete. There may have been a full descent into madness as the goals kept getting bigger and bigger. 15 marathon or longer races, 3 ironmans and 5 ultras, and this year still has my first marathon swim, 3 full marathons and 2 50 milers in 5 different states left to come.

As athletic seasons wane I tend to publish more about family time. This is so that I can document how my family grows and ages, as well as so they can one day go back and see how I did what I did and how they were impacted by it. Blogger doesn't have this feature yet, but I would love to be able to export my posts in ascending date order with all of the pictures so that my kids could one day read this thing like a book. I think wordpress can do that.

So thanks for putting up with my pointless drivel for 700 times, and I'm looking forward to cranking out the next 700 of these things. My focus has certainly changed over the years, from the trembling "can I run a marathon" stage into the full blown confidence it takes to tackle a full in all 50 states and next year try the 100 mile trail ultra scene. The crazy just keeps pouring out.