About

About The Thousand Mile Year:

The Thousand Mile Year began in January 2010, as an excessively bon vivant writer’s chronicles of her challenge to run 1000 miles. That writer was me, Sara Grace. We’re now cruising into 2011, and a second 1000-miler has joined the project: Amy Throndsen, a Wisconsin-born world traveler. More about each of us is below.

I’ve been writing about running as a tool to enhance creativity and performance. As I pass the torch, we’re shifting focus: Amy will explore the sport as a way to create connection and community.

Here’s her personal challenge: Each week, to make a deliberate effort to schedule at least one social run: with an old or new friend or colleague, with a running group, or even with a stranger. If she can’t get a shared run in, she’ll dedicate the run to one person, thinking about them during the run and blogging about why they were on her mind.

Amy writes, “In daily updates, I will use the 16,140 or so steps to explore and celebrate the joys, challenges and complexities that make life like a box of chocolates: ‘You never know what you’re gonna get.’ I hope to meet new people, share experiences with friends, help someone get back on the trail again, be motivated to keep going when I want to quit and find peace in the unknown open road.”

Keep Amy Company!

Sez Amy: Since my goal is to connect with people, I hope you’ll take me up on my humble request for running buddies. I will be traveling quite a bit in 2010 (which will also be a challenge!), but that means I may be stopping by a city near you. The world is only getting smaller and living in DC I’m reminded of that everyday. So drop me a line at amy.throndsen at gmail dot com or @amyserves if you’re the 140 characters or less type and we’ll coordinate our schedules.

Don’t be shy – comment! My comments to an email from Sara’s boss led to our meeting and the push I needed to commit to my one thousand mile year. I’d be happy to tell you the story – when we run!

About Amy:

I’m a fast talker. I’m a fast walker. I’m a fast eater. I’m a fast typist. I’m a fast reader.

I am not a fast runner. Some may say I’m no runner at all. I dabble in running. I take to the streets hardcore for a few weeks at a time and then fall into the abyss of happy hours, dates, trips or events (a.k.a. happy hours). I haven’t been held accountable to exercise since high school.

A few reasons to commit have popped up over the past weeks. A friend convinced me to sign up for a half marathon in March, my dad wants our family to do a half together in October and I read Keith Ferrazzi’s “Never Eat Alone,” which led to a few emails, tweets and a coffee with Sara Grace. In this Internet age, of course, I googled Sara. Turns out 2010 was her year of one thousand miles. That was the final push I needed to make the commitment to my thousand mile year.

As Sara was at the start of her year, I am nervous. I have insecurities about my ability to pound the pavement and hold myself accountable to write about my experiences. Kicking, screaming or crawling my way to one thousand miles is what I’m going to do in 2011. And, I hope to take some of you with me.

If you want to know more, you can always google me or check me out on:

About Sara:

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 the Thousand Mile 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.

It is now 2011, and I’m still running! I ended the year with just over 850 miles, after an injury slowed me down in November.  But thanks to the Thousand Mile Year, I ran consistently through a move that spanned two coasts and had me living in 4 different apartments; through rain, snow, and hangovers, and through seriously stressful weeks at work. This year my professional efforts exceeded those of any other year, in terms of the level of my work and the fruits that it bore, and running helped make it possible. Despite not finishing on time, I consider the 1000 Mile Year project a great success – especially since I inspired a second runner to follow in my footsteps!

Me, elsewhere on the web:

Ground rules (because even the S&M folks have “safe words”) for all 1000 milers going forward:

No running through injury. If at any time this project isn’t serving the runner’s overall health and happiness, she pulls pull the plug.