A Year of Running in Pictures – June 18th, 2018 (The Finish Line)

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This is the end, the end of our story.  June was the month I had finally made it to the end of my goal to take one picture every run for a year.  Looking back it was a, shall we say, “interesting” experience.  I enjoyed stopping to enjoy the sights and sounds of a run, but I am not sure I would do it again.  Most of the time I would just rather enjoy it and not have to worry about stopping to get my phone out to take a picture.

Number of Running Adventures: 9

Total Miles: 31.52

Time Spent Running: 4 hours, 26 minutes, 26 seconds

A Year of Running in Pictures – February 2018

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Ah February, the joy of running morning dark and seeing who still has their Christmas lights up.  I did manage to find at least one house who was still in the holiday spirit.  I think February is one of those months where you either love it or you hate it, there is no in between.  For a morning runner it is usually dark and cold and it seems like spring will never arrive.  But if I don’t mind putting on an extra layer or three and hate the heat then February is a great month!  Especially if you like solo running since the running traffic sidewalks and paths is usually minimal.  I fall on the side of enjoying February runs and best of all sneaking in a lunch run on a sunny February day is hard to beat.  (Caveat here – snow and ice kills my February running mojo).  Me and icy roads have a sordid past and I do my best to avoid the situation.

I wouldn’t say February is my favorite month to run, but it isn’t the worst either.

What’s your favorite running time of year?

 

February Stats:

Number of Running Adventures: 17

Total Miles: 55.29

Time Spent Running: 7 hours, 29 minutes, 8 seconds

 

 

 

A Year of Running in Pictures – January 2018

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Who is John Carrigan?  Why does he have a little league field named after him? January was a month of random thoughts and a realization that I run the same routes, a lot.  I kind of had an inkling before, but capturing a year of running in pictures cemented just how habit driven I am when it comes to running routes.  And I don’t mean just once a week or so, I mean I really have my go to running routes and don’t vary very much (totally unintenial on the homonym there).  I must have run by the John Carrigan Memorial Field hundreds of times.  One hundred and twenty eight in 2017 alone to be exact, but I have never paid much attention to the sign.  Like most random thoughts while running they tend to build on each other so I started to think about all those little things that we pass while running and never really seem to notice.  Even if you run the exact same route every single day, there has to be at least 1, 10, 50, 100 things that will be different.  I think it is these little things that can make every run interesting even when you run the say route over and over again.  The seasons change, the weather changes, different animals cross your path (the random rooster in the yard of a very residential neighborhood has been the strangest animal so far for me), or maybe it’s just the way you feel on that day.  No matter what it is, make sure you notice the little things and keep on running!

January Stats:

Number of Running Adventures: 21

Total Miles: 66.06

Time Spent Running: 9 hours, 41 minutes, 12 seconds

 

 

A Year of Running in Pictures – December 2017

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Cold, dark, and Christmas lights…and for this year cactus.  The joys of December running.  I love running in the mornings, but the dark and cold can make getting out of bed in the morning a struggle.  #TheStruggleIsReal!  One of the fun things about December though is Christmas lights!  I am always fascinated to see which houses keep their lights on all night long or who decides to not even put up lights at all.  December 2017 consisted of a lot of pictures of Christmas lights on the houses around my neighborhood.  Some good, some pretty blurry as I discovered this year that my smartphone camera is terrible in low light conditions (although this could just be operator error).

In addition to Christmas lights, running in the mornings during the winter is usually a very solitary activity.  It is rare that I see another human walking or running on the roads and sidewalks during December through February.  So passing another runner  is always accompanied by a wave of acknowledgement that yes we did both manage to pull ourselves out of bed this morning, great job!

Running while visiting family in Arizona was also on the menu this December and it was a-maz-ing!  Yes, there was cactus to be wary of, but my wife’s aunt owns a horse ranch which borders acres of public land.  Taking off through the trails on a sunny, although slightly chilly, day in late December made for some wonderful runs.  I could definitely make this a regular habit!

Here are the stats and pictures from December’s adventures.  Keep on running!

Number of Running Adventures: 22

Total Miles: 69.81

Time Spent Running: 10 hours, 20 minutes, 38 seconds