A Passion for Running

Welcome to the home of Mark aka The Running Blogfather – a 40 year-old dad, husband and marathon runner who's beaten injury and is on the comeback trail!

where do you draw the line?

passion for running category: running on Tuesday, August 24 2004

For various reasons I try to limit most of my blogging to the topic of running. Having said that, I like to say the odd thing about my family, friends and even work (although the latter subject area is something I really try and avoid). I figure it shows people I have a personality (whacked out as it may be) and life outside running. I know I like to hear about other people’s lives too so I figure some of you may desire to know similar stuff about me.

The bottom line for me is I talk about the rest of my life here only when it connects to my passion for running and doesn’t compromise the safety and security of my family.

Where do you draw the line? How do you decide what to share with the blogosphere?




15 Comments

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Comment by Richard

Tuesday August 24, 2004 @

Pretty much the same as you. If something is making an impact on my fitness, I’ll mention it. Otherwise, nada. At least, that’s the goal.

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Comment by Dianna (running chick)

Tuesday August 24, 2004 @

I’d like to say that I do the same thing, but sometimes when the fingers start flying over the keys, I start blathering on and on. I try to tie it all in with my running, and hope that I am not boring people!

(Although I realize that baby bunnies did not tie into my running experiences at all…but I was emotional about them and that affects my running…right?)

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Comment by Susan

Tuesday August 24, 2004 @

Perhaps I’m alone on this…but I enjoy hearing a little about people’s families and jobs. I feel I’ve been able to get to know the RBF better when life’s little details are thrown into the writing. Those ups and downs affect our running and fitness programs, right? I hope people don’t limit themselves to a fitness report.

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Comment by Rebecca

Wednesday August 25, 2004 @

I guess I’m a rebel because I know I’m notorious for droning on and on about everything and anything. But I try to keep the stuff about the family down to a minimum, they’re boring anyway.

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Comment by Chris Brogan...

Wednesday August 25, 2004 @

I’m not worried, security wise, about my family information. I guess that’s naive, but I don’t care. Otherwise, I haven’t spoken as much on my blog about them, but I used to give my whole daily life a go when I had another website location. I stopped doing that because relatives and friends stopped calling to check in and chat. They’d tell us they caught up on the website, obviously missing the fact that without contact, that they really hadn’t interacted, etc. (Ramble).

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Comment by Deene

Wednesday August 25, 2004 @

I agree with you about the security issues and I try to protect my family’s privacy as much as possible. I mostly blog about fitness and sometimes about odd events/people that I encounter on my way to work or if I have a very disturbing issue that needs to be tossed. Once in a while I’ll had something personal/family related if it affects my running.

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Comment by Lafe

Wednesday August 25, 2004 @

I’m with Susan and Rebecca. I enjoy reading extra bits about people in their blogs, and I tend to toss bits into mine. I actually have less of an excuse to include info in my running blog, since I actually have a separate blog for “the rest.” I’m not worried about security at all, and I don’t think that’s very naive, but then I’m also not cute, single, or a woman, and so I can’t imagine anyone ever wanting to stalk me.

To everyone, I say share whatever you wish, and I’ll enjoy reading it. :)

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Comment by Pamalamadingdong

Wednesday August 25, 2004 @

Yeah I pretty much spill it. I avoid my last name and the name of my town (though I have mentioned it to some).
Other than that, it’s fair game. Photos and all. :)

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Comment by jank

Wednesday August 25, 2004 @

I kind of try to keep it separate. Run, Run’s mostly about running/biking. I post random geeky stuff and vent at a site some friends and I keep up. There’s overlap between the two – but I try to keep the content from being double-posted.

I do worry about security, but a completely safe world is one in which we’re all locked in padded cells. And that’s no fun.

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Comment by april anne

Wednesday August 25, 2004 @

Mark, what a great question. I try to keep my post to things related to training, which some times include things happening in my life which are completely non-running related. I think it’s great when people share some non-running related things. It makes the RBF feel more like a family, and not just a network of “fitness robots”. :) ~ As for security…I was very leary when I first started my blog. I didn’t even want to write about the weather because I thought, “What if some one is able tack me down” but then I relized, I can’t live my life based on the What If’s. I think it comes down to just being sensable and smart about what you post and share with others.

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Comment by Lafe

Thursday August 26, 2004 @

I just want to toss in another comment about security. I’m not worried about people tracking me down, since I know it is emminently possible. Even easy, if you know how. I could probably track down everyone in this thread right down to your home address, as could most anyone who knows how. (Note: I am not *willing* to do so, so please no one take that the wrong way!)

But I think about it like this: My name and address is in the phonebook, easily searchable in real life and on the ‘net. My property information (house value, etc) is all easily available to the public (on the ‘net too, for that matter), to anyone who asks, and so on and so forth. There’s tons of information about all of us available to the public, but in general this is never a problem. We accept a limited amount of privacy every day, and 99,999 times out of 100,000 this is just fine. These fears tend to get exaggerated on the ‘net, but really, it’s about the same, if not slightly *more* anonymous that in real life. We’re in more danger from our neighbors, who actually know us (and may have reasons to dislike us) than from random strangers on the ‘net.

Just my opinion… sorry I got so long-winded about it!

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Comment by Annalisa

Thursday August 26, 2004 @

I post way more than I probably should, but that is also because I had a very public, very personal online journal for about 4.5 years, starting in 1997. It’s just habit for me. But I also don’t worry about stalkers and I don’t have kids, so that’s part of it, too.

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Comment by Mark

Thursday August 26, 2004 @

Thanks for all your comments!

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Comment by michael paus

Thursday August 26, 2004 @

I like to keep the marathon stuff on my marathon page, and the personal stuff on my main page. That way there’s more of a focus to my website. When I started I had everything together – marathons, politics, bar hopping, and it just didn’t really mesh together.

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Comment by Jon in Michigan

Saturday August 28, 2004 @

Damn, I missed this post! Well, I’m putting in a comment for future generations if any of this is readable.

I post alot of personal stuff on the blog. I generally don’t post the name of my town but it should be easy to figure out. I guess I agree with the comment about me not being a cute young female. I think most stalkers are looking for that and not 40 year old guy who looks like Shaggy from Scooby doo. Now you know why there’s no pics of me :)

Most of you are easy to track down based on what you have posted so there isn’t much security in putting things on the blog. The chances that anyone in the world really is “watching” you is pretty slim anyway.

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