About me:

I’m Sara Grace. I seek pleasure and spent a lot of years firmly convinced that it was best found at a dinner table, in recline, or in bed. I nourished my indulgent and excessive sides because I’m a writer, and that’s what writers do. Sure, I exercised regularly; I knew it kept me sane and feeling good. But it was like time on the chain gang.

So I went into this challenge nervous. We all have a dresser drawer full of identities – some lovingly worn, others that we’ve squeezed into like a bad pair of jeans. Until fall of ‘09, “runner” wasn’t even in my drawer.

During the last quarter of ’09, I got myself through a hard romantic transition (OK, a break up) by starting to run more seriously. And I started to love it. So much so that I felt that My Thousand Mile Year would be the best, most transformative challenge that I could possibly take on in 2010.

I’ve let go of some of my juvenile notions about how a creative person should operate. Discipline, process, and hard work – all required and strengthened by running – are the exact same traits that boost and sustain creative pursuits.

Central in this shift was the discovery that my favorite author, Haruki Murakami, who I always pictured with a full ashtray and pint of beer, is an avid runner. His book “What I Talk About When I Talk About Running” is recommended reading, along with every work of fiction he ever wrote.

Are we ready? Stand up, put on your running shoes, and enjoy the ride!

About this site:

An excessively bon vivant writer chronicles her challenge to run 1000 miles in 2010, written with an eye toward helping individuals juice up their creative flow through running.

Creativity here is broadly defined as a playful, joyful, explorative approach to work and life. Heightened creativity helps any career flourish, and improves quality of life.

A running program – particularly on the open road – will strengthen every muscle required for enhanced creativity.

In daily updates, I deliver training tips, suggestions for improving creative flow, thoughts about personal transformation through running, general inspiration, road reports, and hopefully some humor when I’m writing on an endorphin high.

Here’s what I hope to get out of this project:

• improved creative flow
• continued and improved physical and mental health
• an arena to explore issues of identity and personal transformation
• a feeling of accomplishment and follow through
• the opportunity to create community and help other “nonrunning” creatives discover running as a pleasure and a tool to improve their art

Some ground rules (because even the S&M folks have “safe words,” right?): Obviously, I won’t try to run through injury. And if at any time I feel like this project isn’t serving my overall health and happiness anymore, I will pull the plug.

Join me!:

I know I can‘t be the first person to do this, so if you’ve done a thousand-mile year, or are working on one now, email me (saragracer at gee mail dot com)! If you’ve got a blog too we can get an old-fashioned web ring going.

No blog? Let me know it’s YOUR thousand mile year and I’ll create a page on this blog to list everybody and post monthly stats.

I also encourage you to get active in the comments – if you’re a new runner, participation in a community of runners will help your commitment stick.

Me, elsewhere on the web:
LinkedIn
KeithFerrazzi.com (managing editor)