Accountability & Social Media

I go through my newsfeed on Twitter & Facebook and see varying interests from people and you often see the core of that person and what they truly believe in. Kinda a neat way to get insight into what makes and shakes a person. I'm a runner so obviously I have tons of runner friends. Some I know on a personal level and others through social media or at a race somewhere. Many, including myself put our running life out there for the world to see. Recently someone suggested in a private message that it's done maybe in vain.....  I wonder if people think of their churches posts or their love of pets, sports, vacations, etc in the same light? I feel it's done to hold oneself accountable to themselves with his/her peers. As a single person without a significant other , I want my run friends to know I'm still out there battling it daily trying to improve. As well as this, if someone watching gets motivated to start a walk program, yoga, gym or whatever to improve their quality of life then I'm game. Recently a mountain biker in Dallas took a terrible fall and got lost and in the end passed. Sad deal.   I love running alone. Just me, my garmin n listening to my feet hit the ground. It's the most relieving thing I can do. I check in on social media. Many of my friends are not unlike me. They drop in randomly on a trail n log some miles. The check-in for me is basically a safety check. Someone will know where I'm at. When I see others check in, it kinda helps motivate me on a day I really don't feel like going out for a hot run in a July.  Same with people writing race reports and posting them. As a newbie to the running world, that insight is something money cannot buy n I look forward to every single one. For the writer it gives a way to put the experience in perspective.

     This run deal I'm on isn't because I want to be faster than anyone or even placing in my age group. Heck on trails,  a guy with my same name, but spelled differently, normally has our age group covered. LOL  (cannot wait to meet n run with him) For me, running is a journey that chose me during this part of my life. It's almost like an awakening to myself that life has more to offer than just a job and chasing $.  Ok- I'm getting to deep but I'm just writing this to encourage my friends to keep posting about whatever your interests are in life. We are all on a journey and while it takes everyone in different paths, we can still learn from one another to be a better person and hopefully help someone along the way.  That's the part we must hold ourselves accountable to doing. :)