Day 173 - Q&A

Over the last nearly 6 months, I've received a few questions. It's time to pay up:

Q: Dude, do you really run every day? You haven't fudged a day? Even once?

A: I've really run, at least one mile, every day, outside. No fudgin'.


Q: Is your name really Doug?

A: Yes. If I were to make up a name, I would use Javier. Or Roberto. Or Dick Trickle.


Q: How many people read your blog, anyway?

A: Not sure. Google Analytics says 208 unique visitors over the last month. So figuring for bots and people who have taken the wrong exit on the information super-highway, I'd say between 150 and 175, including people from the UK, Canada, Denmark, Japan, Switzerland, Philippines, Finland, Dominican Republic, and one lonely runner each from the Czech Republic, Netherlands, and Sri Lanka. Great runners, the Sri Lankans.


Q: How much do you make on all of those ads?

A: Nothin'. To date, my "income" from the Google Ads is less than $1, and they don't pay until you hit $10. I keep them because I find them entertaining. It's fun to see what ads pop-up and trying to match them to the content of the post. One time I saw an ad for (ahem) feminine products. Luckily I'm very secure with my masculinity, though I did butch up the next few posts.


Q: Aren't you just ripping off "Julie and Julia"?

A: Nope. All I knew about Julie and Julie when I started this adventure was that a former friend read the book and was disappointed that it wasn't more about Julia. Still haven't read the book or seen the movie, though it is in my Netflix queue. Of course at the rate I'm popping that queue, it'll be 2017 before I see it.


Q: What's harder, the running or the blogging?

A: The writing is much harder. But without the running, I'd never be able to write daily. 99% of what I write here springs from my gray matter during that day's run.


Q: Who do you write to? Who's your audience.

A: No matter what you think, it's not you. I write for myself, and to myself... or my future self. I'd like to think that some day when I'm feeling a little lost, I can reread some of these posts and it might help me find my way.


Q: Wait, if you're writing for yourself, why a Q&A post?

A: Next question...


Q: What's been your favorite run so far?

A: Anytime I run with one or more of my kids, it's a great run. My favorite post so far, I think, just off the top of my head, is the first photo-safari from Sarasota. It was a fun run and great fun to retell the story.


Q: Who are Robin and Nora? They post comments more than anybody.

A: Nora is one of the coolest people you could ever know. She s a great writer, my music critic of choice, and a great writer. She's also the unofficial queen of Broadripple and a great bartress. Robin is another of the coolest people you could ever know. She is wise, and funny as hell, and my yoga teacher of choice. She is also a wonderful writer and artist.


Q: Isn't running every day hard on the body?

A: Somedays, yes. But I've felt better after every run than I did before it started. Some days its tough to get started, but it's always worth it.


Q: Those pictures of you... is that really you?

A: No. I hire out. And I'm much better looking than the stand-in.


Q: Are you sponsored by anyone?

A: I wish! My buddy Marty still gives me employee discount at his store, even though I haven't worked an hour there in a couple years. That's as close as I get to a sponsorship.


Q: Shouldn't you plug his store, then?

A: Yes. The Runners Forum is the best running store in America.


Q: What's with the deal with the fountains?

A: It started one night when I was out after a Polkaboy show with my sister and pseudo-sister-in-law. I'd recently broken up with a girl I thought I'd be with forever. I'd just asked a girl out, one that I'd liked for a really long time, and she said "Not right now." What do you do with that? Apparently you get into a fountain.


Q: Isn't it a desperate plea for attention?

A: Maybe, but I prefer to get in fountains when no one else is around, so I doubt it. It's harmless, silly fun. I step in, I step out. With the exception of roughly 2 shoes of water being moved from inside the fountain to outside of it, things are just as they were before. It's a reminder that some of society's lines are arbitrary.


Q: 173 days in... how's it goin'?

A: It's going great! Running is a habit, just a part of my day... just the way it should be.


Q: Don't you have any more questions than that? It's been 6 months.

A: No. Well maybe, but I can't think of any more right now. But if you, or any other of the amazingly intelligent and good looking readers have questions, I hope they ask them in the comment section below. Comments make the blog a lot more fun, for all of us.

Good running,
Doug

Numbers: 3.0 miles on the roads.