It’s December 8, 2012. This afternoon, I completed a fairly routine 9-mile run. Under overcast skies, and with the temperature in the low 50s, I set out of the village of Canastota along New Boston Road as I have done so many times this year. At 3 miles, the sun peeked out from the clouds for a few minutes to illuminate the hills of Madison County beautifully; at a little over 4, I stopped at the railroad crossing on Canaseraga Road to let a CSX freight train lumber by with its load of cattle cars and containers. At mile 5, I left the road and finished the remaining miles on the Erie Canal trail, completing the route in a slow and comfortable 1:32.

There was no urgency to this afternoon’s run. I am not in training for any race right now. This one was for personal pride. I am closing in on 1,000 miles of running for this calendar year and should achieve that goal by December 31, a fact which did not escape me as I began the last section of the Canal Trail from Bee Bee Bridge to my home. This was the same place where, almost 3 years ago, I had stopped halfway through the first run I had attempted in years, out of breath and completely exhausted. I had only run about 1-1/2 miles.

This year was a different story. In October, I ran my first ever marathon in Toronto, and next year I plan on running two along with two half-marathons and the 15K Boilermaker in Utica. And it is this coming year that will be the focus of this blog, though before I write about that, I want to spend the next few blogs talking about the achievements that have got me to this point.

So this blog is for all the average runners out there. This is for those who, like me, will never be first but who strive never to be last. This is for those who started this lark as a way of keeping fit or losing weight and who, somewhere along the way, actually began to enjoy lacing up the sneakers and pounding the pavement. Hopefully, you will see yourself in these words and find some inspiration and more than a few chuckles as we go.