How this running thing got started...

Here's some history, just in case someone's interested...

I was a couch potota through high school, although I studied martial arts for a while. After college I didn't really do much in the way of regular exercise, though I made a few attempts I couldn't find anything that captured my interest enough to stick with it.

Finally, I hit 30. I had 2 kids, and I was just feeling fat and tired. The company I worked for at that time started a scheme within the benefits plan to encourage regular exercise amongst the employees. Basically, you get credit towards your health care contributions if you exercise regularly, attend health related seminars, and read health related materials.

I picked up Oprah's exercise book. The one she co-authored about her exercise program and personal trainer that helped her lose so much weight. The process seemed fairly straight-forward, so I tried it out. I hadn't really done much exercise since High School PE class, so I took things slowly. I got up early every morning and went for a brisk walk.

A couple of weeks of the walking, and paying closer attention to what I was eating, and I started to feel better. My heart rate wasn't elevating much with just walking, so I started to add short jogs into the routine. I couldn't jog far before I was out of breath, but a few of these short stints in each morning walk, and I felt like I'd actually accomplished something.

As the weeks progressed, I turned from mostly walking to mostly jogging. I'd warm up and cool down with a walk to and from a local school track, and spend 20 minutes running around the track.

A new gym opened up close to my house, so I joined to take advantage of the other equipment available. That was a bit farther away than the track, so I bicycled to the gym, worked out and then bicycled home, each morning.

I was really feeling good about this exercise thing now, but I needed to find something else to keep me motivated, otherwise I might be in danger of slacking off, or quiting altogether.

The First Race...


After several months of 20 - 30 minutes of treadmill, or track running I was starting to get pretty good at the running thing. I heard about a local race in San Francisco, call the Bay to Breakers. This race is 12km starting at the Bay side of the city and running across the penninsula, through Golden Gate park to the ocean. Anywhere from 40,000 to 80,000 people take part in the race each year. There are serious runners, casual runners, and walkers. There are those with costumes, and those without, and those without clothing altogether.

My wife & I occasionally visit the local naturist resort in the Los Gatos hills. It's a fun, laid back place where you can enjoy the woods, lawn areas, a couple of swimming pools, hot tubs, tennis courts, and campsite areas, all while wearing as much, or as little clothing as you care to, with an emphasis on nothing at all. Well, through the people I know there, I learned of a group who participate in the Bay to Breakers naked. Hey, sounds fun to me! I've lost some weight from all the exercise I've been doing, so I don't feel that getting naked and running through the street of San Francisco will be a problem, why don't I try this? Of course, I need to train, so I know that I can complete 12km in one go, but where else are you going to be able to run naked through the middle of a major metropolis and not get arrested? ;-)

So, there it was; my motivation. I started running more each day, until I got up to a regular 45 to 50 minutes at least 3 times a week, with shorter runs, or other exercise, on the other days.

When race day finally arrived, I found that most of the naked group would walk the distance and only a handful of us would be running. I felt a little more vulnerable with such a small group, but after the first mile or so it wasn't a big problem. We were moving fairly quickly along the course and getting all sorts of comments from fellow runners and spectators. ;-)

I finished the run in a little over and hour and a quarter. Not bad for my first race, and considering all the hassles of trying to run through such a large crowd of people. I'd kept my clothing so that I could dress after passing the finish line, and then head back to my car for the drive home.

Wow! That was pretty cool. What race can I run next? I'll probably have to run it clothed, since I'm sure there aren't any others quite like Bay to Breakers, but I think I can deal with that. Right?