I'm feeling the need to put down a lot of my thoughts on running, which is also the time when I do a lot of the thinking and meditating that enables the rest of my life. I rather expect that this will also include putting down all those thoughts etc that running seems to generate.

I've been running off-and-on since high school but have been only running seriously and consistently since 1996. That happen when I was living in Berkeley, CA and my doctor gave me the choice of medication for my high cholesterol or going the diet and exercise route. I chose the later and promptly started jogging. I was in such poor shape that it took over a month before I was able to jog around the block.
It grew from there and I eventually entered a couple of 5 km races and thoroughly enjoyed myself. At this point my wife and I switched churches, to Christ Lutheran in El Cerrito, CA. There I became involved with a group of runners. We all ran together every Saturday morning and had coffee and conversation after. Eventually we started entering races together, Saturday events as we all wanted to be church on Sunday mornings. This limited or choices but in an area like the Bay Area there are usually2-3 choices every weekend anyways.
Most of the races were 5km/10km races and I began choosing the 10k's as I discovered I liked the longer distances that didn't require quite as much raw speed. Since then I have run many races at many distances, and this fall completed my 10th marathon and my 2nd ultra-marathon. I have also moved, from Berkeley, CA to Archerwill, Saskatchewan. A very different geography, climate and culture for running.