How far have I run...

I used to drive my car around my running route using its odometer to calculate the distance I was running. Since the distance I run varies and is also increasing in length every week using the cars odometer was sort of overkill, then I heard about runnersworld.com

If you join their site you can keep track of all kinds of running related things. The main thing, for me, was to be able to use google maps to calculate how far I was running. However, signing up on their site was a pain. When I finally succeeded I mapped my run by clicking my mouse at intervals along the road. It told me the total number of miles I had run. Mileage or should I say killometreage is also available in killometres which I prefer. I saved my map and logged out. Later, when I came back to the site to make another map, or rather gloat about the extra distance I was now running, the site refused to regognise me. It told me I did not exist, even though I entered my coordinates a couple a times, fearing typos. Humpf.

So, I went to map my run.com. This site was a lot easier to sign on to. It’s interface is bigger and easier to read and when I came back to it the next day it remembered me.

Both these sites offer the option to make your running routes public so you can share them with others.

Knowing how far I’m running is useful to me so I can guage my progress. My aim is to run the Emperors Challenge. Maybe not till next summer. My short term goal is a ten k run at the beginning of June although I will probably be running further than that before I do the race. After that or I want to try something from the Prince George roadrunners schedule. They have an interesting program of races of varying length in Prince George and surrounding communities.

The other thing about running, I’m learning, is that you don’t run the same distance everyday or even run everyday, not that I've been doing that. The clinic I‘m helping with, not really, gave us a training schedule. It tells you how far too run each day, when to do cross training and which days to rest. Admittingly I’m not following it to the letter. But sort of reinterpreting it to fit my life.

I’m really enjoying the twice a week clinics which involve timed runs, hill runs and running up stairs. Even the stretching at the end of the class is fun and a workout just in itself. My volunteer position at the YMCA gives me a full fledged membership. I really should try out some of their other classes or maybe rent a racquet ball court.