Runningmonkeys

Over the last few days, the Runningmonkeys team (me…Tom O’Leary) has been working on renovating and sorting out this site.  I hope you like what I have done.  I’ve installed a new wordpress theme called Cutline.  After sorting out a few little issues it all seems to be running smoothly and I hope you agree that it sure looks and works a lot better. 

The new header image I have installed is a photo taken at our front door where all of the running shoes live.  There is a prize for anyone who can work out from the picture which shoes have done the most distance.  If you pick the right pair of shoes, you can come and claim them (perhaps you can think of a use for worn out running shoes that I have missed).

There is more that I will be doing to jazz up the site over the coming months, but for now it is back to writing.  So I thought now would be a good time to “re-release” the site into the world by telling you a bit about it.

Last year when I began to build this site, it had only one reader (me) and sometimes I think even I didn’t read what I wrote.  Since then there has been a steady growth in readers and I have started to wonder if you all know what this blog is really about.

Well here it is…why Runningmonkeys?

Runningmonkeys is the blog for serious runners with a sense of humour.  

We all know how to take seriously the pursuit of our dreams.  Millions of people set out from home every day with gritted teeth, and clenched fists, determined to achieve their potential or to get closer to their goals.  Too many of them wander home at the end of the day, exhausted, confused and wondering if they can do it again tomorrow.  People, who are ready and rearing to go first thing in the morning find that the ebb and flow of success and performance leaves them squashed by the end of the day.  They set out with all sorts of plans and resolve, only to find that after just a day the world has convinced them that “it can’t be done”.  The difference between the person who strode out the door in the morning and the person who slouched back again in the evening is all decided by attitude. 

Every one gets the gloss knocked off their motivation from time to time, but if our lives are geared solely towards external achievements (like running performance) then we are giving too much power to forces outside of our control.  If we can work on ways to follow our dreams and pursue excellence without letting our whole identity hang on achievement, then we can roll with the blows.  If we are flexible and adaptable to forces outside of our control then we can benefit from setbacks.  But most importantly, if we are able to not take ourselves too seriously, then we stand a good chance of freeing ourselves of the stress and performance anxiety that will inevitably hold us back from optimum performance.

So what does this have to do with Runningmonkeys?  This blog has been set up as a place where runners can come and learn more about the craft of performance running.  The articles written here are designed to be a careful blend of fact, application and motivation.  Whatever you read here is not to be read as gospel, (because we all know how fast current research becomes obsolete) but instead to be seen as useful starting points for your very own experiment called “How can I get the most out of my running?”.

Slotted in amongst the running science are bits of stupid humour, which I include for two main reasons.  The first is that I enjoy making people laugh even though I know that some of the dribble I write is hardly worth more than a snort.  The second is that running is too cool to take too seriously.  Runners are often accused of being masochists without a sense of humour and I think that this accusation is largely unfounded.  But I can see where people get this idea from.  If you spend time reading print literature and the web you will soon find that there are way too many runners out there that take running way too seriously.  They speak and write as if they live only to run, rather than running in order to get more out of their lives.  They imply that you have to be serious to perform at your best and that running is all about using your mind to trick your body and soul into running faster.

Running offers us so much more than this, and so my aim is to balance my running with the rest of my life so that I get more of the whole deal.

Having said that I am interested in high performance running as you can read here in my post called the big marathon goal.  After reading this, nobody can say that I don’t care about speed.  This is one of my dreams that I have turned into a goal and am gradually turning into a reality.  The things that I write about here are things that I think are important in the sort of journey that I am taking.  They help me to run faster and faster while enjoying the process more and more.  I write them up and publish them here so that you can see if they are helpful to you.

Finally, I would like Runningmonkeys to one day become the sort of place where all sorts of runners feel comfortable hanging out.  This will be the sort of running community that helps every member get the absolute most out of their running.  Over time I hope to get more input from other runners on what is working for them, so we can all benefit from what they have discovered.  Perhaps you too will contribute to the conversation here at Runningmonkeys

For now, all I ask, is that if you like what you read, then put Runningmonkeys in your favourites or better still, subscribe to my feed and then tell your friends what you have found…they may thank you.

Why the name Runningmonkeys?  I’ll have to explain that another day.