One Year of “Running With Rick”

Hard to believe that it's been just over a year since my first Running With Rick blog a couple hours after running the Red Flannel. A stubborn -20 wind-chill made that 5K race a miserable experience, inspiring me to liken it to an abusive relationship. Once that blog was posted, I had absolutely no idea what I’d write about for the next one.

One year later, I’ve written 30 blogs with several ready to post coming weeks. I’ve also planned the topics for each post through the end of the summer.

This website has been an absolutely exhilarating experience for me. Not only has it reawakened my passion for writing, but also afforded me the opportunity to reconnect with old friends along with making new ones.

It’s my hope with today’s post to share a bit of the thought process I use in developing my blogs and ask for any ideas you may have.

It's safe to say that caffeine has fueled many a RWR post.

When I first started RWR, I all but vowed that it would not be about my latest race. Instead, I had envisioned offering a variety of topics, ranging from informative to whimsical. This went as far as planning posts on running terminology unique to me or support groups for the spouses of avid runners. Clever or not, neither of those blogs ever got beyond a few bullet points. I came to realize that there always seems to be some aspect of each race that goes beyond performance, touching instead on something that everyone can understand and appreciate. That's included the temptation to drop out of a race when injured. Or the value of setting goals. Or the sheer joy of racing again after recovering from a long injury.

Now you know why I've hated this song for over 40 years.

It goes without saying that some blogs were more difficult to write than others. “Don’t Be This Guy” and “'Mr. Consistency's' Final Season” went through numerous revisions before posting. The challenge posed by the former came in paring down a personal journey of several years into a few minutes of reading. "Mr. Consistency" proved a challenging blog as I struggled in determining how much I needed to share from a truly difficult time in order to bring authenticity without devolving into a pity party over events that occurred four decades ago. (Way too much time went into finally deciding to delete a paragraph about being dumped by a girlfriend that previous summer and how it's her fault I still can’t stand that old Glenn Fry song, “The One You Love.”)

Nostalgia posts are the most fun. Eight seasons of Cross Country awarded me with a number of wonderful memories with some remarkable people. Seven seasons of Track squeezed out a few races and occasions that I also fondly recall. It's always a treat to reach back into those days. But that’s a mine I can tap only so many times before I run out of seasons.

That leads to the other point of this blog. The reason I do it is because it’s an avenue for me to express myself about running which has been an essential part of my life for decades. Although I’m not sure about any long-term plans for Running With Rick, I do know that I fully intend to continue posting blogs every two weeks at least through the end of 2023.

That’s where you come in. I would like to focus on topics that interest you. What would you like to have me write about? Racing experiences? Opinions on training techniques? Recaps of past seasons? Interviews with other runners and coaches? Anything else related to running? Or should I turn this into a podcast? I have access to a teleprompter that would allow me to read this content. Would that be more appealing than reading the blog? I'm interested in everyone's thoughts on this.

Let me know what you think in the comments below or on Facebook.

And my thanks for being a part of Running With Rick!