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    He's been called the Pied Piper of the Second Running Boom. Once an overweight couch potato with a glut of bad habits, including smoking and drinking, at the age of 43 Bingham looked mid-life in the face—and started running.

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Year of the Dragon

Posted on January 18, 2012 by John J Bingham

P.F. Chang's Dragon In the Chinese horoscope, 2012 is the Year of the Dragon. [the new year begins January 23] The Dragon symbol is of an intelligent and laborious worker who never puts aside work though sometimes this leads him to excesses. The water Dragon has enough courage to face challenges and easily finds weak points that stand on his way to success.

So far, so good. Except that I was born in the Year of the Rat. Which is not all bad since People under the rat sign are usually smart and wealthy and will work for success. They are sanguine and very adaptable, being popular with others. They are clever and adorable, personable and materialistic. They are also by nature thoughtful, sensible, judiciously and curious. That ain’t awful.

So far, though, 2012 has been the year of the Dragging. As in, dragging my butt out the door or on to the treadmill. I’m doing it, but I can’t say that I’ve got the fire in the belly that I hoped for.

Quick rehash; skip this paragraph if you already know. January 2009, slip my sacroiliac joint, spend six months seeing doctors, getting injected, doing therapy and not much else. April-September 2009 too stupid to see a podiatrist about the pain in my foot because I was sure it was plantar fasciitis, which is was NOT. It was a dislocated cuboid joint. January 2011 start the 100 Day Challenge by walking, stick with walking every day for the entire year.

Now it’s January 2012. My plan was to stay with the 100 Day Challenge but reintroduce running to the winter schedule and  – I hoped – cycling [road and mountain] to the spring and summer schedule. Everything went fine, I stared running one minute and walking for 4 for 45 minutes, for – oh – about a week. Then somehow – SOMEHOW – my back started acting up again. AAARRRGGGHHH. Back to walking.

Today I ran/walked again. It felt great. And then I did something I almost never do. I stretched. On my back, one leg at a time, pulling on the strap and holding it and repeating. Maybe, just MAYBE, my hamstrings really ARE tight [as Coach Jenny keeps saying] and I really should do just a little bit of flexibility.

I really want to run. I want to run/walk the Penguin in the Park 5K at the end of March. To do that, I’ll have to train. To train I’ll have to be able to run. To continue to run, it looks like, I’ll have to work on my flexibility.

It’s a start. Yeah, I know. Next comes full-body flexibility and core strength. Baby steps. With any luck this will be the Year of the Penguin.

Waddle on,

John

An Accidental Athlete is available in print and ebooks versions now. BUY THE BOOK

Review An Accidental Athlete on Amazon or Barnes and Noble

What others are saying: Because of runners like John, the wall of intimidation has crumbled, and tens of thousands of Americans are now believing in themselves. John has helped raise self-esteem and self-confidence in people all over the world. Nothing is more important to a person’s well-being.– Dave McGillivray, Boston Marathon race director

Filed under: Bingham, John "the Penguin" Bingham, motivation, Penguin, Running, Training, Walking | Tagged: , , , , | Leave a comment »

All good things…

Posted on December 16, 2011 by John J Bingham

Today, December 16, is day 350 of 2011. That means that for the past 350 days I have moved, intentionally, for at least 30 minutes. It started as an idea to move for 100 days. That turned into a plan to invite others to join me. That turned into a phenomenon where 10,000 people signed up on Facebook. That turned into a habit, which, at day 101 turned into an obsession.

Some would say obsession is a bad word. I don’t agree. There are certain people in our lives that we want to be obsessive. I want my dentist to be obsessive. And the guy who works on my motorcycle. I want the pilot and first officer to be obsessive. You get the idea. Being obsessive has gotten a bad rap.

Once I got to the 100 day threshold I think I became obsessive. But not in a way that paralyzed me. In a way, the obsession liberated me. I no longer had to decide if I was going to exercise on any given day. I no longer had to wonder if I was going to find time to move every day. I was liberated from all the doubt. I was going to move every day. That’s all there was to it.

I’ve been honest with my movement. There have only been a couple of times all year where I jumped off the treadmill at 31 minutes. [yes, I always put in an extra minute] Most days I’ve done between 40 minutes and an hour. By my rough calculations I’ve covered about 1,000 miles. That might not be much for an elite marathoner, but, it ain’t too shabby.

In a little over two weeks I will have moved, intentionally, every day for an entire year. At 64 years old I will have done something that I’ve never done before. And, to be even more honest, it’s something that I may never do again. Or so I say today.

In the end it will come down to which emotion surfaces. If I feel satisfied and want to savor that satisfaction then on January 1 I’ll take the day off. If, on the other hand, I feel content, then I may very well just keep going.

You can join in for 2012 by searching for the 100 Days Challenge page on Facebook or by going to http://www.100dayschallenge.org What I can tell you for sure is that it will be one heck of a journey.

Waddle on, friends.

John

An Accidental Athlete is available in print and ebooks versions now. BUY THE BOOK

Review An Accidental Athlete on Amazon or Barnes and Noble

What others are saying: Because of runners like John, the wall of intimidation has crumbled, and tens of thousands of Americans are now believing in themselves. John has helped raise self-esteem and self-confidence in people all over the world. Nothing is more important to a person’s well-being.– Dave McGillivray, Boston Marathon race director

John “the Penguin” Bingham, Competitor Magazine columnist
Author, The Courage to Start,No Need for Speed, Marathoning for Mortals and Running for Mortals.

Order your copy of John’s NEW book An Accidental Athlete today.

Have a question for John? Write him.

Filed under: Bingham, John "the Penguin" Bingham, Training | Tagged: , , , , | 1 Comment »

Viva Las Vegas

Posted on November 30, 2011 by John J Bingham

I’m a pretty boring guy. I don’t like parties. I’ve never gambled. I worked for years as a professional musician so I’m not all that interested in going to shows. What I’m saying is that all the things that Las Vegas is famous for are lost on me.

But I cannot WAIT to get there.

This is my last Rock ‘n’ Roll event for 2011. It’s not the last for everyone. Some of the staff will be heading to Miami next week, but not me. The year started in Arizona and wandered through New Orleans, Nashville, San Diego, Seattle, Chicago, Providence, Virginia Beach, Philadelphia, Savannah, and San Antonio. I think that’s all of them. It’s been a fantastic year. By my calculations I’ve seen nearly 250,000 runners and walkers start a marathon or half marathon this year and welcomed nearly that many to the finish line. I’ve seen young people, old people, thin people, NOT thin people, men and women of every possible description. And every one of them looked great.

It’s hard to describe the emotions of being at the start line and watching 30,000 people take off chasing a dream. We’ve had celebrities and politicians on the announcer’s stage with us and they are always shocked when the crowd goes by for what seems like HOURS. Well, it is an hour or so at some events, but no one seems to care.

This year we’ll start in the evening and be rocking well into the night. This has GOT to be wild. And, since I’m NOT a morning person it seems much more civilized to start at 4pm [for the marathon] and 5:30 [for the half] than it does to start at 7am. More than anything it will be different. I don’t know if anyone knows for sure how it’s going to work but we’re all convinced that it will.

Next year I’ll be at 15 or 16 Rock ‘n’ Roll events including the new ones in St. Petersburg, Washington, DC and Portland. I’ll  also be back at my anchor events in Nashville and Chicago.

I was at the very first Rock ‘n’ Roll event in San Diego in 1998. I was there a part of the Runner’s World Pacing Team. No one could have predicted that the concept of staging event for the REST of us would become so popular. But it has.

So make your plans now. Find a race near you or one as far away as you can. Find a bunch of friends and plan your own break away weekend. But whatever you do, make SURE to register for Las Vegas 2012. I promise you it will be a weekend that you’ll never forget.

Waddle on, friends.

John

An Accidental Athlete is available now. BUY THE BOOK

Here’s the direct link to the Amazon Kindle version

Here’s a link to the Nook version

Review An Accidental Athlete on Amazon or Barnes and Noble

What others are saying: Because of runners like John, the wall of intimidation has crumbled, and tens of thousands of Americans are now believing in themselves. John has helped raise self-esteem and self-confidence in people all over the world. Nothing is more important to a person’s well-being.– Dave McGillivray, Boston Marathon race director

John “the Penguin” Bingham, Competitor Magazine columnist
Author, The Courage to Start,No Need for Speed, Marathoning for Mortals and Running for Mortals.

Order your copy of John’s NEW book An Accidental Athlete today.

Have a question for John? Write him.

Filed under: Bingham, Half Marathon, John "the Penguin" Bingham, Marathon, Penguin, Running, Walking | Tagged: , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

The Autumn Leaves

Posted on November 1, 2011 by John J Bingham

Johnny Mercer wrote the words, and many of us hear Nat King Cole singing it, but the classic “Autumn Leaves” has been ringing in my head all week here in Northern Virginia. We had the freakish snow last Saturday which gave way to a chilly Sunday and a stunning Monday and Tuesday. By early November most of the leaves have turned at home in the Chicago area. Out here, though, Fall is extended. It seems to wander leisurely from Summer to Winter.

The romantics like to think of Fall as the most beautiful time of year. They wax eloquently about the beauty of the changing leaves, the robust colors, and the harbingers of Winter. I’m not immune from that kind of rhetoric. I get it. I get the beauty. I experienced it. I embrace it.

But I don’t do so as naively as I once did. I know longer embrace the coming of Winter with the same reckless enthusiasm that I did when I was younger. Maybe it’s because I have the sense of being in the Fall of my own life that I can’t willingly accept the necessary death and renewal cycle that this season represents. I can’t as easily view the mask of color that hides the truth about what is happening.

What has happened, for me, is that I find myself more deeply engaged in the sights of the season. I stopped and watched a squirrel nibble on a fallen acorn knowing that he’d soon be finding places to bury his winter stash. I stopped and watch a single leaf float aimlessly towards the ground knowing that soon enough the last leaf would fall. I stood and stared at the slow moving Four Mile Run and the reflection of the trees in the water.

I’ve been on this path many times. In the past twenty years I’ve run or cycled much of the W&OD trail. 40 years ago, in my first year in Northern Virginia, and Army buddy and I rode motorcycles on the rough dirt right-of-way of the W&OD railroad. I’ve seen the path change from a forgotten relic that was nearly inaccessible to a fully functioning and active running, walking, cycling thoroughfare. It’s now a place for children and seniors. A path for serious runners and casual hikers. It is treasure for all who choose to use it.

The trees that I rode past in my youthful enthusiasm have stood guard over hundreds of Fall transitions. I have been a part of many of them. This year, as in no other year, I feel connected to them. I feel like they have been patiently waiting for me to notice them. I’m glad they waited.

Waddle on, friends.

John

An Accidental Athlete is available now. BUY THE BOOK

Here’s the direct link to the Amazon Kindle version

Here’s a link to the Nook version

Review An Accidental Athlete on Amazon or Barnes and Noble

What others are saying: Because of runners like John, the wall of intimidation has crumbled, and tens of thousands of Americans are now believing in themselves. John has helped raise self-esteem and self-confidence in people all over the world. Nothing is more important to a person’s well-being.– Dave McGillivray, Boston Marathon race director

John “the Penguin” Bingham, Competitor Magazine columnist
Author, The Courage to Start,No Need for Speed, Marathoning for Mortals and Running for Mortals.

Order your copy of John’s NEW book An Accidental Athlete today.

Have a question for John? Write him.

Filed under: Bingham, John "the Penguin" Bingham, motivation, Penguin, Uncategorized, Walking | Tagged: , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

A league of their own | The Penguin Chronicles

Posted on October 14, 2011 by John J Bingham

A league of their own | The Penguin Chronicles.

I’ll be at the Nike Women’s Marathon this weekend with Team in Training. This is my observation about an earlier event.

GO TEAM.

John

 

 

An Accidental Athlete is available now. BUY THE BOOK

Here’s the direct link to the Amazon Kindle version

Here’s a link to the Nook version

Review An Accidental Athlete on Amazon or Barnes and Noble

What others are saying: Read your book, loved it, it was wonderful. It made me laugh, it made me cry. In it I saw glimpses of myself. I may be old and I may be slow, but I am an Athlete, I am a Competitor, I am a Runner! Wow, thanks John, for enabling me to see that! D W, Senior-Onset Athlete

John “the Penguin” Bingham, Competitor Magazine columnist
Author, The Courage to Start,No Need for Speed, Marathoning for Mortals and Running for Mortals.

Order your copy of John’s NEW book An Accidental Athlete today.

Have a question for John? Write him.

Filed under: Bingham, Half Marathon, John "the Penguin" Bingham, Marathon, motivation, Penguin, Running, Walking | Tagged: , , , , | Leave a comment »

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