Why I started this blog

Life without work is tough. I find myself with too much free-time on my hand, so much that I can't actually do the things I want to do. I'll just do it later. People have told me countless things I can (and should do) to occupy my time: volunteer, exercise, enjoy life, go back to China...and everything in between. That was before I let the secret out that I am doing a masters degree in Hamilton while living in Ottawa, but that doesn't matter because I still have much time on my hands.

So, this is to announce to the world that I have started running again. Currently, I don't have any specific goals in my mind or races that I would like to run, but that's the general idea, at least for now. Honestly, I do have a race or two in mind that I would like to do and perhaps I will run them within the year. However, I do not want to set any unrealistic goals for myself as I have been relatively inactive for the last year except for games of pick-up hockey on Saturday and the occasional basketball game in Beijing.

While I prefer to run outdoors, I am also sane enough to understand that there are two seasons in Ottawa: rain and snow. Running in the rain is bad enough; running in a few feet of snow is even worse. Thus, this morning, I took out a membership at the local YMCA so I can run indoors for the winter as well as do the other countless activities included in my membership. Who knows, I can try everything from spinning to karate. I even have a super-snazzy watch that tracks distance, speed, time, calories burned,...and all that stuff. I've had the watch for a while, but now, I might actually figure out how to use it properly.

I have run many races in the past (10+years ago) and even did most of the training for the Ottawa ING marathon twice recently (hence the watch), but I never actually ran the race. A rather large case of dehydration one year and a toe injury the second forced me to withdraw. That doesn't mean I plan on running that marathon this year, but one other thing I noticed while training for those races was the lack of motivation I had. I am hoping, somehow, that blogging about my running/exercise experiences will somehow keep me motivated for whatever my running goals end up being.