DEAR DIARY

In previous blogs and in motivational speeches I deliver at marathon race expos around the country I preach about the importance of keeping a daily running log.

A running log is your personal running diary. One's daily entries may be brief, or may read like a Russian novel. No matter, by looking back through one's running log, a runner may get a complete picture of his or her running regimen. A complete running log can let you know what works for you and what doesn't. Your running log can tell you where your running has been and where it's going.

If you examine my running log since November 26, 2014, it appears as though I have been in Buffalo, New York, or International Falls, Minnesota.

You see, since I kept my first logbook in 1976, I have always included weather conditions in my daily running diary.

That way, when I wonder why a race time was particularly slow, the 90-degree heat may have been a factor.

When a workout seems as though I turned a calendar page before I completed it, snow-covered roads may have played a part in my snail-like pace.

Here's a sample of some of my "Greatest Meteorological Hits," as recorded in my running log, from the past five months.

Wednesday, November 26-4 inches-snow, slush
Friday, November 28-20 degrees, windy, cold
Wednesday, December 10-Snowing
Thursday, December 11-8 inches-snow

Rain and moderate temperatures teased us for the remainder of the month, and on December 28, I logged an 8-miler on my favorite wooded trail.

Saturday, January 3-Snow, sleet, slippery
Tuesday, January 6-2 inches-snow
Wednesday, January 7-Wind chill-1 degree

For nine days I escaped to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, only to return to:

Wednesday, January 21-4 inches-snow
Saturday, January 24-5 inches-snow
Monday, January 26-Windy-3 inches-snow
Monday, February 2-2 inches-snow, slush
Thursday, February 5-Wind chill 5 degrees

Back to Myrtle Beach for a week, then:
Friday, February 20-Wind chill-2 degrees
Monday, February 23-Wind chill-0 degrees
Saturday, February 28-13 degrees

And as we entered March:

Sunday, March 1-4 inches-snow

Most runners, in many areas of the United States, feel like one of Mike Tyson's opponents, during the days when he was a boxing champion. We are beat up from five months of a Polar something or other.

I promise to stop whining, but, "Dear Diary, please make this end soon!"