every runner, every day.

LUNCH PAIL RUNNER We must find the work that brings our lives meaning. -The Lunch Pail Manifesto Now that the gyms have emptied out and the weather here in the Northeast is destined to return back to the frigid temperatures we are accustomed to I’d like to reflect on the the work ahead. Lots of people will now shut down the running part of their lives and opt for the warmer activities. Frankly, there isn’t anything wrong with that. Who am I to judge? But for the core runner, the runner with Spring Marathon goals, their running program is just now starting. This work, this winter running, includes an even smaller sect of folks within the larger running community. These runners are like the Jedi toiling away at their craft when it is dark and cold. The streets become emptier and purpose becomes fleeting. But that’s it, isn’t it? The purpose. Why are we doing this right now? Some folks just can’t or don’t want to stop doing this. The winter, to them, is just running in the cold...

       Of course I remember. How can anyone forget? The odd thing about that day was that I hadn't run. Well, maybe it isn't that odd. I had only been a runner for almost exactly a year to the date. While I ran every single day in the USMC, my first recreational run was when I came back home in September of 2000. My first road race wasn't  until April of 2002. It was an 8k in Centra Park and it wasn't quite Spring as the temperature was 35 degrees. But this race or any other racing hadn't yet happened and I was simply someone who ran every once in a while.      As a teenager in high school there was an annual tradition where the Brooklyn Tech Football Team would run from the school in Downtown  Brooklyn across the Brooklyn Bridge and into Lower Manhattan. As football players this felt like pure drudgery. Maybe I'm only speaking for myself but in a start/stop, power sport it is a good bet to say it sucked for the majority of us. I sort of reme...

Chasing— Always Chasing The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.- Laozi     What am I after now? I've done a few things in life  haven't I? Thirty-six marathon finishes tops the list of accomplishments for me. To be clear, this isn't me trying to create a classic one-upper with announcing my marathon finishes. There are tens of thousands of people with multiple marathon finishes and likely way faster than mine. Of course, the actual amount of people to have finished more than thirty marathons is virtually impossible to find but I alone know five people to have completed more than fifty. Then there is my ten year journey of writing a book . It took a long time to start and just as long to finish but it's done nonetheless. I earned my college degree in my thirties and as a father, that's not nothing, right? That was purposeful bad grammar, relax. I've stacked up about ten different certifications and/or designations. Now what?     That has been t...

  The Comeback Trail I’m always making a comeback but nobody ever tells me where I’ve been. -Billie Holliday      I’ve lost count over the years of how many times I’ve had to comeback from something. There was a former boss that said to me “you remind me of that song about getting knocked down”. It was a reference to the song “Tubthumping” by Chumbawumba released back in 1997. I struggled in that business but somehow I had these triumphant moments that would erase the memory of all of the things that made me look cursed with lack of success.       After having two surgeries in 2024 I am back on the roads running one mile at a time. I can only run one mile because of doctor’s orders as well as current fitness. When I came back from my run a few days ago I was dripping sweat and I sat in front of the fire place as though I had just run a half-marathon. My last run before my first surgery last year was in January. My first run after my firs...

  The Ridiculousness of Resolutions Once again our collective social medias, morning shows, and group chats will be inundated with proclamations of what will happen in this new year. “New Year, New You” will flood every bloody outlet that is available for people to read. Folks will resolve to lose weight, stop smoking, start having more fun, start a vision board, or start running (my personal favorite). I guess the part of it all that bothers me is the idea of waiting until this designated day to stop being whatever they’ve been to start being some other version of what said person perceives to be an updated or upgraded version of YOU. But why? There are approximately forty different calendars in the world that I know of. Which calendar is the chosen one? Which day, in which month, on which calendar will you decide to become the new you? Let’s get creative. For those that follow the Gregorian calendar you can get started on January 1. Then, at least in 2024, celebrate ...

  "... often what is beautiful to be done in running is ugly to be done in wrestling..." -Socrates     "What are you running from?" I've been asked that before. I used to be asked a lot. Of course, I was asked a lot when I ran a lot. I don't run as much anymore so I haven't heard the question in a while. It was an interesting question, to say the least. Instead of asking why did I run, in general, the question was of the aforementioned  variety. That is a question that I will attempt to answer another time.      Today's question is, "Why Do I Run??" Perhaps it could be phrased "why does one run?" I guess the reason I chose the singular, first-person, pronoun is because that question feels existential. It is also, for many runners I imagine, almost a religious type of question. That said, religious questions can oftentimes be answered in this sort of communal way by some sort of clergy or other manor of expert. There exists zero ex...