Some time in May my fellow Bostonian and friend Dennis asked me if I wanted to join his relay team Homestar Runners for the annual Reach The Beach Relay Race being held September 14th-5th.

I’ve never been “into” running long distances. It just wasn’t something I was good at. But I figured I’d make the effort, no one had ever gave me a reason to run before and I’m always interested in challenging myself. So for my birthday in June I asked for a Nano + Nike + iPod Sport Kit. I had already gotten a shiny new pair of Nike’s for Ultimate Boot Camp earlier that spring.

Turns out that being a geek + being challenged + having a goal (not to suck horribly for the relay) turned out to be all the motivation I needed to wake up at the crack of dawn everyday to sweat profusely.

Improvement wasn’t automatic, in fact when I first started out I was only running a couple miles in the 11 minute range. But I just kept at it and steadily improved. One major component of the relay race is endurance. You’re running across the state of NH in a nonstop race. To run 3 legs in about a 24 hr period, quick recovery is a must.

Running long distances daily is quite a time commitment, I’ve found a middle ground where I run a moderate length during the week and balance it out with a long run on the weekends which seems to be working well for me.

I like to run around the Chestnut Hill Reservoir, a couple loops is a great run early in the morning. I’ve stopped running at night for the most part because I tend to be a klutz.

I’ve actually looked forward to running everyday. It’s great for taking some alone time and although I come back a sweaty mess it usually invigorates me the rest of the day. The Nano + iPod Sports Kit is a great tool to measure improvement and knowing people depend on me to do well in the upcoming relay race is great motivation.

Update I’ve hit my first Nike+ Milestone this morning – Hooray!