Blogathon - Word Cloud Day

Blogathon post 30/30

The end of the blogathon and I did it! I posted every day for 30 days! We end the blogathon with a word cloud.

I choose thoughts from this morning's trail run for my word cloud.

My Blogathon Experience

 

The blogathon ends tomorrow and I can't believe another month has gone. I am glad I decided to participate and I am really happy with how it went for me.

It was quite a challenge to post every day but I did and in the end it wasn't all that hard to think of what to post. For me the real challenge was to find time every day to write a post. Between work and life in general this was easily the hardest part for me.

I did the blogathon mostly to get my head around writing a bit more. I am glad to say I definitely achieved that. I have a writing project that I need to get into gear soon and the blogathon certainly provided motivation for this.

As far as blogging goes I think I have seen that I will never try to write a daily post. I might post a little more than before the blogathon, but I don't see myself posting every day.

I suppose it depends what you look at. The blogathon did increase the number of hits my blog gets daily. However, the number of comments per post decreased quite a bit. I have always found that with my blog. If I leave a post a little longer before I post the next one, it gets more comments.

So it depends on what is important for you...more hits or more comments? Personally I don't mind all that much as I don't try to make any money with my blog, in which case I suppose more hits/traffic would be important.

I think I prefer more comments above more hits. It feels more personal. I've met some amazing people through this blog and I am now friends on Face Book with many of them and regular e-mails are written between a lot of us. I really have great friends from all over the world because of this blog.

Participating in the blogathon was certainly beneficial and I have made a few more friends. I think it was definitely good for my blog. The only negative for me would be the fact that many of my good blogging friends missed a lot of the posts because there were just too many too often.

The same applies from my side. It is difficult to read someone's blog every single day. I don't often have the time to go back to catch up on earlier posts and I think we all are in the same boat. Maybe it is different for people who makes a living from writing and reading blogs and other articles, books or whatever else.

So my verdict...

The  blogathon was fun and challenging at the same time. I wanted motivation for writing and thinking more about writing and like a writer. I achieved all of that 100%. I do encourage you to participate next year and I will also do so if my job and life allows the time.

Thanks for giving me the opportunity to be part of the 2013 blogathon. I achieved everything I wanted and learned a lot.

Running with sunglasses…no thanks!

Blogathon post 28/30

In my post yesterday I mentioned how meticulous I am about what I wear for running. A comment by Lauren from “On The Run” made me smile. She said she laughed because we are so similar with our running but then there are so many things where we are the complete opposite,

She wears anything and doesn’t really care so much about the details. Except for sunglasses… There she is meticulous. Funny enough, this is the one thing I never wear when running.

I once tried running with sunglasses back in 1998 and hated it. I wore sunglasses in a 32km (20 mile) race in 1998. That was the only time I ever tried running with it and never ever again. It is just such a huge nuisance. I’m a sweaty, wet, muddy mess when I run. Sunglasses are just in the way.

I have these two gem photos to prove that at least I did try it.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Everything must be perfect

Blogathon post 27/30

I am someone who likes to pay attention to detail. In my job and with life in general I like it when all the little things are perfect along with the big picture stuff. This definitely applies to running as well. Everything must be perfect.

I am meticulous when choosing new shoes, socks, pants, shirts and even underwear. If it doesn't feel right I won’t run in it. If my socks, underwear or shirts get old and don't feel right anymore I stop running in it immediately.

A few weeks ago I suddenly experienced some chafing in my groin area. I didn’t know what caused it but eventually found it to be one pair of underpants that was showing some wear and tear. This just reiterated the whole case of being meticulous for me. Everything must be perfect and the longer the run the more attention to detail is needed.

Do you pay attention to detail?

Fixing Your Feet

Blogathon post 26/30

I have quite a collection of running books and refer to all of them regularly. They are all good and I decided over time I will do a quick mention of them.

First up is one of my favorites and certainly one of the best books I have.

Fixing Your Feet by John Vonhof

This is a must have for any runner and marathon and ultra runners will find it very useful. It is devided in 5 parts and covers everything there is to cover about your feet and their care.

Part One - Foot Basics

Part Two - Footwear Basics

Part Three - Prevention

Part Four - Treatments

Part Five - Sources and Resources

A brilliant book for any athlete of any sport that abuses the feet.

"One thing is for sure: when one's feet hurt...

it definitely gets one's attention."

- Denise Jones, the Badwater Blister Queen

How far do you run?

Blogathon post 25/30

I’m asked this question quite often and was asked again yesterday. It usually goes hand in hand with how far do you run every day?

Well, let me answer these questions for you.

How far do I run every day?

During the week I run between 4AM and 6AM in the morning and this is anything from 8km to 17km. I do all my runs during the week on the road.

On weekends I run basically any distance depending if it’s in a race or training. My longest training run on my own was 51km and I’ve done 50km twice in training.

Races can be any distance and goes into answering the other question. 

What is the longest run I’ve ever done?

If we are talking non-stop without sleeping the answer is 173km (107.5miles) in a 24hour race. If it includes sleep breaks it is 689km (428miles) in a 6 day race.

So there you have it...how far have you run?

My Haiku for 24 June 2013

Blogathon post 24/30

Today is Haiku day for the blogathon. Before today I did not know what a Haiku is. It is a short, three line poem with 5,7 and 5 syllables for each line respectively. I read many examples this morning because I was clueless what to write or do.

I thought about a moment on yesterday's trail run and that inspired this Haiku:

The dassie watches
I try to tiptoe past him
Gone, I am alone

That's all folks! Have a great day!