An Introduction To Vidjog
Hi Everyone, my name is Hal and I’m running the Harrisburg Marathon in November. This idea came to be about six months ago, when a dear friend of mine had just made adjustments to his life to get healthy, and took up running. I made a deal that I would run the Harrisburg Marathon with him, however he incurred an injury running a ten mile race back in the spring. I’m nothing if not stubborn and frugal, and I refuse to abandon the $70 I spent on my registration, so here we are.
So, in an effort to help a worthy cause close to my heart, and to give this race some much needed meaning, I’ll be running the Harrisburg Marathon for Vidjam, a film outreach organization which I’m privileged to serve on the board for. Vidjam was the first Arts Organization I got involved with in 2015, and it would be entirely fair to say that it’s the main reason I got into all things performing arts in Harrisburg. It’s also managed to engage and cultivate a wonderful creative community in Central PA, so I can’t think of a worthier cause to run for. I’m honestly not trying to raise a ton, this was something I was doing anyway, so anyone who wants to make a donation will be greatly appreciated by myself and the rest of the Board.
So, a little background on me. I’ve been running regularly since I was fourteen as a means of trying to lose weight and stay in shape. I’ll say generously one of those things has been successful the last twenty years, but I didn’t really start running races until I moved back to Central PA from California some years ago. I ran my first 10k in 2015, my first Half Marathon in October that same year, and then managed to run my only other Marathon a year later. My experience running my only other full was very rough, and its fair to say I considerably under-trained for it, so I’m eager to get another shot. I’ve stayed active since then, running a bunch of other races and two additional Half Marathons. I also bike a lot, which Harrisburg has been a gorgeous location for.
Also, this should come as no surprise, but I love film-making! I’ve been into movies and productions since I got my first video editing program my sophomore year in high school, and even majored in Film Production (as well as Creative Writing) in college. I’ve made two features on my own which didn’t net me any fame or fortune, but did manage to work off and on in TV and Film in Los Angeles for about three years. I never really carved out a career in that industry, and the speed of the town didn’t really suit me, so now I love just making shorts for fun with my friends around Harrisburg! I’ve managed to since work my way into a great career with the Lottery, and enjoy being able to make movies in my spare time with no pretense of trying to make this a career.
And as I start my three month training period, I’m very much in a typical male film maker’s body type right now. I intend to use this blog to not just document my process for surviving 26.2 miles, but also to highlight all the wonderful work Vidjam has done to engage and encourage the film community around here. I’ll be posting my training segments from Strava, both as a way to keep myself accountable, and also to encourage anyone else out there to start running or biking. Trust me, I’m not exactly in great physical shape right now, and am quite overweight. But I want to use this experience to get back into great shape, and encourage others to do the same.
If anyone else out there ever wants to start running, I strongly recommend Strava to track progress. I’ve been using it for about a year and some change, and it’s kept an honest account of what I’ve been running. Without training apps I’ve tended to over-estimate how much I’ve been running, and Strava combines training with segments and achievements, which almost kind of makes the process into a game. I’ll post a lot of my running and biking activity on here to highlight the process and hopefully show some improvement over the next three month.
And keeping in line with the film side, I’ll be reviewing and talking about my favorite Vidjam movies on this blog, as well as chatting with my favorite of the filmmakers who have submitted great work through our organization over the years! If anyone has any questions, comments, or just wants to get attention on the blog or in the videos, email me at Vidjoghal@gmail.com. Also, please go and check out Vidjam.org to see the mission of the organization, and all of the movies it’s fostered since 2015.
So here’s the marathon process, and hoping the training doesn’t kill me along the way!
