On Your Marks

Credit @run.photography

Here it goes. Truth is, I've been meaning  to start this blog for probably 3 years. I've kicked the tires on website builders, puzzled over what exactly a "domain name" entails (I'm still not sure I understand), and procrastinated over putting words on paper several times before ultimately shelving the idea and justifying some abstract future juncture as the more opportune time to launch my foray into writing. 

In my head, the perfect opportunity to start documenting and sharing my experiences always seemed just over the horizon: "Maybe my senior season of varsity" or "once I've made a senior national team" or "once I've finally finished school." The reality (for me and, I imagine, everyone else) however, is that life rarely puts itself on pause and there is no designated reflection period. Yesterday's horizon becomes today's, well... today. That sentiment has become all the more clear to me over the past 18 months, which have seen me finish both my undergraduate and masters degrees, complete my  career as a varsity athlete, get my first real job and make my first Senior National Team on the track (whew). 

All that to say that I'm finally pulling the trigger! I've known for a long time that the process of writing a blog would be a cathartic outlet for me, if nothing else my time in university confirmed that I have no trouble filling a page... even when a paragraph would have sufficed. Beyond that I hope (dream? pray? have convinced myself?) that what I write here will hold some sort of value for YOU, my readership.

Most of you will be here because you know me through Athletics. Indeed, track and field, cross country, road running and the community of people that make those sports exist are a huge part of my life and probably the single greatest factors contextualizing my dive into blogging. If you're here for other reasons (Hi Dad!), well I hope I can deliver something of interest to you too and maaaaaybe even give you a better understanding of why I've devoted so much of my life to running in circles. 
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While I stand by my earlier point (the grind never  stops... ever ), as far as opportune times to start a blog go, now seems about as good a time as ever. Three weeks ago I wrapped up my 2019 track season at the IAAF World Athletics Championships in Doha, Qatar (Read about it here). Since then I've taken some much appreciated time off of running and I'm now just resuming my training. As all of my athletics-directed readers will know, the upcoming season is an important one in our sport with the 2020 Olympic Games taking place next summer in Tokyo. The cachet of the Olympics is so great that whether an athlete like me wants them to or not, they quickly come to be the benchmark by which an entire career in this sport is evaluated. There's a daunting, urgent, inspiring simplicity to this reality and I'm "nailing my colours to the mast" in pursuit of a berth on Canada's team for Tokyo. With that in mind, as I build into this final season of the quadrennial cycle, I invite you to follow along.

Runners to your marks...
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