Background

I started my running career my senior year of high school after being cut from my first love, basketball. I joined the track team with no prior running experience. I had a great spring that year and finished with a best of a 5:07 mile. Following that season, I continued running road races over the summer and on into my freshman year of college.

With no track or cross country program at Drexel, I was forced to stick with road races. I actually found that I really loved distance. I ended up running further and further. By the end of my freshman year, I ran a 12+ mile race and a half marathon (13.1 miles).

Two things that year stalled my running career. I began drinking every weekend and started slacking off when it came to training runs. I'd often still do 10 mile runs, but only about two or three times a week and really nothing else. I had no intermediate or short runs.

This eventually led to a leg injury over the summer. I hurt my knee near my knee cap one day and was forced to limp home a few miles. After that, I stopped running with exception of a few half-hearted comeback attempts.

Fast forward nearly 9 years. I haven't run or exercised much at all since 2000. I've drank way too much since then and eaten too much fast food. In the last couple months, I ended up talking to some friends who are just starting to run. Ironically, these conversation occurred in bars. I was able to lend them some good advice.

This got me thinking about getting back into running. I currently have no job so it's a great opportunity to get back into it. I also want to do some biking and lose the 20-25 lbs that I've put on since I started running.

One night last week, I decided to look up my old running results. Back in 2000, I ran the Rodale Press Half Marathon in Allentown, PA. Even without training enough back then, I ran the 13.1 mile race at a 7:17 minutes per mile pace.

I decided then that if I'm going to get back to running, I might as well set a goal. I don't know if the current half marathon in Allentown is the same route as the one back in 2000, but I plan on running it next year and want to do so under the pace that I ran the first time around. That race will take place early next May so I have a year to accomplish that goal.

Obviously I'm a far way off from that goal time now. I ran a couple times recently and struggled just to run 2 miles, let alone at a good pace. If I could run the time I did in 2000 without training enough, I can certainly run that time again.

I've become a writer who covers basketball and found that I really enjoy writing when it pertains to subjects that I also enjoy. I decided to make this a place where I can record my progress as I shoot towards that running goal next spring. I have a long way to go, but I'm ready to take on the challenge.