blossom Summary
Tracking my running progress over time.
I’m currently training to run a marathon. It seems like a cool bucket-list item to tick off, and I’ve been enjoying the process (and feeling of improvement) so far! Historically, I’ve really sucked at running and hated it every time we were forced to do it for PE class in school; the process of converting that to something I’m voluntarily doing (and even enjoying!) has been a really satisfying accomplishment in itself already.
- Not pictured: approximately 6 months of pain and suffering to get to the first bullet point in this log (the SF 10K in February 2026). I could barely run a mile without stopping when I started!
- As a very stretch goal, I (possibly naively) think getting a Boston qualifying time (currently hovering around 2:50-2:55 for my age group, around a 6:40 pace) could be within reach given some rather intense and prolonged training. But I am not sure I am willing or able to put in the requisite time+effort+sacrifice for such a goal at the current moment.
dish run
I use the Stanford Dish Trail as a standard running route to track my progress over time. My current goal is to run the entire loop without stopping/walking (update 2026-04-17: i have achieved this goal!)
The route begins at the California Avenue Caltrain station and follows California Ave up to Kite Hill where it cuts over to Stanford Ave. I don’t have a strong preference for which direction to run the loop in (though I find the clockwise route to be slightly easier since the big hill is at the beginning).
In the graph below, the DISH line represents all of my timed runs following this route to date. I go slightly different approach routes each time to keep it interesting, but on average this route is 7.1 miles long with 750 feet of elevation gain.
races
I ran my first 10K in February 2026 and my first half-marathon in May 2026.
The RACE category in the graph below tracks official race times. It is pretty sparse but I hope to go to some more soon!
other shenanigans
To close off my current running era, I ran the Crosstown Trail and walked it back the other direction at the end of May, to technically finish my first full marathon in about 7 hours. I’ll run a marathon for real sometime in the near future (probably CIM in december??) after taking a break to focus on other aspects of life :)
graph
