Why?

I am aware that my life isn't particularly interesting, nor do I have much of a desire to share my activities or thoughts on life with the world. So why start a blog? I came up with two reasons.

First, I would like to keep a record of my running, hiking, skiing, etc. experiences for my self, both to track my training and to be able to look back on my trips and "adventures" (I'm prone to nostalgia). A blog seems like a more convenient and flexible medium for this than a paper journal, letting me keep words, pictures, maps, etc. in one place.

Second, I am fairly obsessive when it comes to finding information about places to run, hike, and ski. Am I the only person who reads trail guides like novels or engages in hours of aimless virtual wandering on Google maps? I thought it would be nice to spend some time producing rather than consuming trail maps, race reports, trip reports, etc. There isn't much information available on the internet about the places I frequent (mostly central New York, specifically the Cortland area), so maybe a few people out there will find what I put down useful.

So here's what I plan to post:

1) Weekly summaries of my training with a focus on the routes I take- stats, descriptions, impressions. I will keep info on how I feel (e.g. "ankle felt a little tweaked") to a minimum, as no one else cares and even I probably won't find it that interesting when I look back.

2) Race reports for the various trail races I run. I always enjoy reading a good, descriptive race report for a race I'm going to or have run, so I think it will be fun to put out my own.

3) Trail descriptions/guides for places I run/hike/ski. Like I said, I love this stuff, and maybe someone will find it useful.
  
4) Trip reports for longer runs and hiking/backpacking trips. I have been good about organizing my pictures from previous trips, but I would also like to have some verbal descriptions to look back on.

5) Other stuff that I feel compelled to record- maybe things like my racing goals, future trip ideas, and thoughts on running and outdoor topics.

So that's my justification and plan for this blog... we'll see how it goes.