What's in a name?

So, what’s with the blog name, you might ask.  Or you might not.  But either way, since I’m doing the typing here, you’re going to get an answer. 

To be honest, I was trying to come up with a good name for my blog that involved the word “run” or “running,” and that was also, best case, something of a play on words.  I even flirted briefly with trying to make the name snazzy, but quickly abandoned that idea.  I’m not that clever.

So, when the ol’ creative juices ran a bit dry, I turned the ‘r’ section in the great big Webster’s dictionary in my school’s library to see what turns of phrase might be listed there.  I came across several that would have been fine, but then I saw “run-of-mine.”  It immediately made me think of my grandfather, who used that expression frequently.  It means, basically, run-of-the-mill, or ordinary and plain.

My grandpa grew up in northern Minnesota, on the Iron Range, and many of his friends ended up working in the taconite mines and other related industries on “the Range.” *  Although he was, by most accounts, a run-of-mine person – he lived a quiet but strong and purposeful life, as most members of the “Greatest Generation” did – served in World War II, raised a large and happy family, with a ton of eventual grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

So, in part, the name is a small homage to my grandpa, who really taught me a lot about how to be a good person and live a good life.  It also works quite well, thank you very much, as homage to the manner in which I run, which is, well, very run-of-the-mill.

* Probably the other most famous person, apart form my grandpa, to be from the Iron Range is Robert Zimmerman, better known as Bob Dylan.  He’s from Hibbing, Minnesota.

Here I am!

"All this happened, more or less" (Kurt Vonnegut, Slaughterhouse-Five)

"Call me Ismael." (Herman Melville, Moby Dick)

"I had the story, bit by bit, from various people, and, as generally happens in such cases, each time it was a different story." (Edith Wharton, Ethan Frome)

"Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendia was to remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice." (Gabriel Garcia Marquez, One Hundred Years of Solitude)

Dang.  I've never started a blog before, or let alone a book, but I kinda wish I could come up with something profound and memorable to begin with, like the words above.  Aw, who am I kidding,  I'm no fancy author, although I do like to write.  I should also point out that I am equally un-fancy at running, although I like it quite well also.

Those are the two basic reasons that I'm starting this blog.  I haven't really had any impetus to write since I took a (temporary) hiatus from a PhD program (and if any of you have taken what I charitably and euphemistically refer to as a 'hiatus' from graduate school, you can smell what I'm cooking here, I think).  I also am a newly minted obsessive runner, and I feel like I have something to say about running and the running.  I hope that you - the amorphous, unseen you - agree.

By way of introduction, here is, more or less, who I am.  I'm a husband to LW (lovely wife), and the dad to two really, really sweet, nice, smart, kind, wonderful kids - #1 is a boy, and 11 years old.  #2 is a girl, an 8 year-old second grader.  I am in my VERY early forties, thank you very much, and my day job is teaching first grade in the same school that my kids attend.  We all live in a white house with a picket fence (no, actually!) in Minneapolis, Minnesota.  Along with the 4 of us, we have a small backyard flock of chickens, which is super fun.  The 'girls' are (because I know you were dying to know) Lola, Buffie, Isis, Rosie, Lucy, and Holly.  They made my breakfast today.  Well, they started it, at least.  I technically made it into an omelet.

I'm just getting back into running after a pretty long break of about 10 years or so, which coincides nearly  I've been running 'seriously' again for almost a year (if a person can call running 20-30 miles a week serious) - I did my first 5K last July 4th, and after a motley collection of 5Ks, 10Ks, and other little races, I'm training for a half marathon in June (the Minneapolis Half Marathon), and seriously thinking about a full in October, which would be the "Most Beautiful Urban Marathon" - Twin Cities.  This race is appealing because it literally goes down the parkway about 2 blocks from my house.

In this blog, I hope to share a bit about my random thoughts and experiences in running and in life.  I hope that it will serve some purpose for someone else as it is doing me the favor of letting me talk at someone besides myself about running.  About the best that I can promise is that "all this happened, more or less."

Thanks for reading!