Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Talking About Running


Everyone knows that I like to talk about running. I can't help it. To be honest, my life is thankfully uneventful most of the time, so that leaves my hobby as pretty much the only thing to talk about that doesn't involve cleaning or kids. So, what am I talking about when I talk about running? Here is something I found over at Half-Fast that I think is pretty interesting. At http://www.wordle.net/, you can input your blog address or other web page. Wordle will then do a word count and create a piece of art with the posts. The words used the most are bigger and there are different fonts and color schemes to choose from. Here is another one that I created from this blog:
Once the cloud is created, use of it is free for any purpose as long as wordle.net is credited. I was so happy with my result that I clipped the cloud above, went to Vistaprint.com and ordered some pads of paper and pens with the artwork on it. I was surprised how cheap it was. My husband thinks it's hilarious that I've created marketing materials for my blog, as if I were actually making money off this thing.

Do all runners talk about the same things? A book that explores talk about running is "What I Talk About When I Talk About Running" by Haruki Murakami. Murakami usually writes surreal fiction, but here he writes about running and how it effects his writing and life. At times the book is slow moving, but I was surprised how his thoughts about running mirror my own. He writes about becoming a runner, and not just someone who runs occasionally for exercise. Murakami has run marathons and ultras and he notices the effects of aging on his performance and attitude. He writes about the stamina required to write for extended periods of time and he credits running with conditioning his mind and body for the task. The realization that a male writer from Japan, who in many ways couldn't be more different than me, has similar thoughts as me was comforting. It made me feel like I speak the same language as a larger community.

I'll let you know how my blog shwag turns out when I get it in a few days. I've been feeling good and running consistently, albeit slowly, the last couple of weeks. Hopefully there will be lots of running to talk about in my future.

13 comments:

AZ said...

Cool! I'm going there now to make mine!

Nat said...

Oooh Cool! I just made mine and the big word on mine was DONE which was right next to MARATHON! Hmmmm interesting. I am not smart enough though to copy it. I will have to figure that out and put it on my blog!

Love to Run said...

I absolutley love talking about running. And I find that a lot of people are very interested in hearing about how I run marathons and how I feel that they could run a marathon as well.

Do you have any thoughts on your next marathon? I would love to hear what you are planning.

I looked at your past race results, looks like we ran the Twin Cities Marathon the same year. Wasn't all that rain fun!

Mark said...

Great post, Beth! I'll check it out...I think about running all the time!

BrianFlash said...

I'm such a goof that I have business cards promoting the blog. Thankfully, I'm too humble to actually hand them out.

I will be bringing them to the Marine Corps Marathon this weekend though!

Londell said...

Cool link... I made one. Might try again. As for talking about running... Any hobby from anyone is talked about much. I was in Bayport, WI and met a man who is passionate about Jelly. Yes Jelly. I listened to him for 15 minutes and loved to listen. The knowledge, experiences and skill in what he did was so cool. SO we all talk about our passion. Listen to those fantasy football fanatics talk about the their players... A hobby they can not talk enough about... so talk on!

Velma said...

I talk about running all the time. I am glad you are feeling better. I am going to take your idea and make a word cloud. Have a great weekend!

Dori said...

Talking about running is why I started blogging in the first place! I quickly learned that non-runners have other things they'd rather discuss. I'll have to check out that link.

Amytrigirl (aka Amybee) said...

way, way cool. I'm going to that site right now. THANKS beth (Hey are you doing any of the Monster events???)

Sunshine said...

Yours is really lovely!
Some lovely October weather we are having.

Bob Babinski said...

Really cool website. Thanks.
Do all runners talk about the same thing? To varying degrees. Do all runners go through the same life transforming experience? To varying degrees.
Have a look at this guest post on http://good4sports.wordpress.com/
to be inspired by a well-known Canadian sportscaster who's work has been transformed by running:
http://good4sports.wordpress.com/2009/10/23/award-winning-sportscaster-runs-his-own-race/

I Run for Fun said...

That is really neat. I have to try it out. It's funny how I have to watcnh myself everytime I talk to a non-runner, because talking about running is so natural!

Thomas Bussiere said...

I've got to try this. Thanks for sharing.