Where have all the bloggers gone?

I started casually running/exercising about a year ago now.  I was getting older and needed to tune up my health... plus my kids are finally getting old enough that I can sneak in a workout without them needing my constant attention... which means getting up early before everyone is up.

These days I get up at 5:30 and count on the fact that my kiddos mostly sleep in till at least 7:00... and even if they do wake up early they can pour their own milk and keep themselves occupied while being mature and considerate enough to allow me to finish up my workout.

This February I turned 40 and started running/excising with more intensity.  Figured my window to run fast is closing and I'd still like to see what I can pull off if I can be consistent with training.

During my last wave of running (back in 2009-2010) I'd read other runners blogs for inspiration.  Recently I decided to look up my old blogs and started reading them.  Very nice and relatable to read about myself 10 years ago as I struggled through getting into shape, accompanied with the various training aches and pains.

Clicking through my old reading list there are not too many, if any, running blogs still active from 2010.  Interesting to see how the different people dropped the blogging over time.  Others seemed to have acquired their own domain name at a certain point and then decided eventually not to shoulder the continuous expenditure.  Those blogs seem to be gone for good with even the historical posts wiped clean.

My blog, was still there ready to be posted on... so I figured, might as well start posting again so maybe in 10 years, 50 year old me can look back and draw inspirations from his musings... pretty easy to write when your target audience is your future self.

Maybe if I ever need to keep my motivation up I'll go search out some of the other running bloggers and see what they have to say... wonder where they've gone?

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Today's training...  A hard 4 miles:

Distance:  4.03 miles
Time: 29:30
Pace: 7'19"

Notes:  Fastest 4 miles I've run in a long time and not the easiest course either with mile 2 being a very hilly section.

Mile 1: 7'38"
Mile 2: 7'29"
Mile 3: 7'11"
Mile 4: 6'56"

Looking at my HR data from my apple watch (which I somewhat question) I was in the 90% HR range pretty much from the 2nd mile to the end (between 162-165 BMP) if I use 180 as my max.  Maybe this is approaching my 10K pace at this point?  I was running hard but not full out... I'd put my perceived effort at a 7.5/10.

Overall this has been a good week of training.  I've had a few hard days and some good easy days as well.  My body has been responding well and I'm not feeling nearly as exhausted as normal.  Hope to get a long run in on Sunday to cap off the week.

My left shin is still hurting but feels okay while running after I've warmed up for the first mile.  Part of me knows that I should probably rest it but another part of me thinks that I have a 5K race coming up in less than a month and I would like to see how much fitness I can build by then.  Assuming it all holds together by then, maybe I'll rest it after the race (either that or more likely run a hilly half-marathon in September and rest it after that).