A New Look
I’ve made a resolution. I’m determined to be as dedicated to this blog as I am to my running. (Minus the whole waking up at 5am thing.)
The Goal: Have the editors of Runner’s World stumble upon my brilliant prose, invite me to write a monthly column, and eventually publish multiple books of the “running for the rest of us” variety. Become the female version of John “The Penguin” Bingham. Take over the world.
The More Realistic Goal: At least one post a week. Every week. NO exceptions. And try to add some pictures. This thing looks boring.
The Plan: Get my act together.
I really jumped into this blogging thing with no concept of what makes a blog “good” or interesting. I did no research, read virtually no other blogs for reference, and advertised my venture to a grand total of 5 people (3 of whom are relatives). Then I hoped that somehow people would find my long-winded commentary on my personal running adventures to be highly entertaining, and that somehow – possibly by magic – this blog would become popular and I would become a “real” writer.
That hasn’t quite happened yet. To say my posting history has been sporadic would be generous. Also, it seems that if you don’t advertise your blog anywhere, ever, nobody finds the thing. In a particularly depressing exercise, I Googled “Running Fiesta”, complete with quotes. Nothing. (Okay, not nothing. Several interesting articles about the Running of the Bulls in Pamplona. But still.)
So now I’m finally going to take some steps toward putting myself out there. I figure I can start slow, perhaps with status updates on my Facebook page. If that isn’t too terrifying, maybe I’ll start posting links on running forums. And maybe I finally will do that research on what it takes to be a successful blogger. I’ve at least started looking at other blogs for inspiration, and the new look you see here is the result of that research.
From what I can tell, successful blogs are simple – no fancy templates to distract from the text. Successful blogs have pictures, because as Matt Richtel recently noted in the New York Times, our collective attention span in the digital age is somewhat…brief. Finally, successful blogs are UPDATED REGULARLY!!!
That’s right. I’m all-caps yelling at myself. We’ll see how this goes.
P.S. – Back to the running next time, I promise.
Running Fiesta 
I find it highly entertaining!