Off the Couch!!

It's been five months since I've been dedicated to running. If I am being honest it has likely been nine months since I wanted to start seriously training, but it was winter time in New England and the couch was comfortable.  Those first few weeks of training are definitely the hardest.

When I started I was in the habit of coming home from work, turning on the TV and being a couch potato for hours on end. The habit of being stationary is hard to break. Those first few weeks thoughts like "I ran yesterday, it's fine if I take today off", or "a few pushups after work is good right, I don't need to run tonight", were constantly running through my head.

Then somewhere in that first month something happens, you start to look forward to your run all day. Days off feel strange and during down weeks when you know you really do need two or three days off in a row to rest or recover, you have to keep reminding yourself that you shouldn't run today, but the urge to get out there nags you all day long.

I'm not going to say running is some miracle drug that will solve all your problems. I know that many people simply do not enjoy running and no matter how much they forced themselves to run it may never become fun for them. For me however I know that I always feel better after a run then I did before.  Even the worst run makes me feel better once I am done with it. Since I have been running higher mileages I feel calmer and more comfortable throughout the rest of my day, it takes more to make me angry and less to make me laugh. For me running works and I'm glad I got off the couch.

About Me

This blog is being created as a place to talk about running, any and all kinds, training and anything else that may come up. I do not think all of my non-running friends would appreciate me constantly posting on Facebook or talking all night about a new trail I discovered, so I've decided to do so here where all those who are interested can see.

My name is Matt Smith and I started running in college. The introduction to trail races for me came when a few friends convinced me to run my first ever race, the Jay Mountain Marathon. It was brutal, but I loved it anyways.  For the next couple of years I did a handful of road and trail races and enjoyed getting out on the trails every day which always seemed to clear my head and wash away the stress of the day.

Then slowly running became less important. I struggled through a series of small injuries and all of a sudden I wasn't in college anymore and had a full time job to focus on.  I would still run, but almost only as an afterthought, maybe running ten miles a week in two or three mile jogs.

Then this spring, likely around four years since the last time I trained for a race, I decided I would do the Wachusett Mountain Race (Part of the New England Mountain Series).  I ran maybe 20-30 miles a week leading up to it and it kicked my butt, but I was hooked again and I've been training as hard as I can ever since. I'm signed up for the Vermont 50, which is now only around a month away. I feel nervous and excited all at once and can not wait to see if all my hard work will enable me to run the 50 somewhat respectably.