Binary Blisters might seem like an unusual name for a website. Truth be told, I had help from ChatGPT when coming up with the name. It was a two-fold problem: I wanted a .com TLD, and I’m not very creative when it comes to puns, witty comebacks, and creative writing.
After brainstorming for about an hour, I came up with a few different names. However, I wasn’t sold on any of them and decided to seek help from ChatGPT. I gave it my interests, what I was hoping for in the blog, and my ideas, and asked it for suggestions. It couldn’t check the availability of the TLD for any of them, but it suggested about 10 good names. I started with the first one I liked and checked to see if it was available. The first two were already taken, but the third was available, and that’s how the name Binary Blisters came about.
For those reading these posts, it’s probably evident where the “binary” part of the name comes from, so I won’t go into that in detail in this post. However, the “blisters” portion has a special meaning to it. I’ve developed a lot of interests and hobbies over my life, but running has always been my strength. More specifically, doing really dumb races. I’m not a typical runner and definitely won’t brag about my PR marathon time. I’m not particularly fast, and I’ve never aspired to be.
My strength lies in running and moving for a long time and doing crazy things along the way. This may sound odd, but it’s the best way I can describe it. I was never great at traditional sports because I was a scrawny kid growing up with low self-confidence, and I would usually run and hide from any confrontation. Traditional sports didn’t really interest me, but I did try them out. However, running was what I enjoyed the most.
I didn’t do cross country or track, although I did participate in track a few times. My focus was always on challenging myself, not competing. My first taste of this was when I was eight years old. My father was military and participated every year in a race known as the Bataan Memorial Death March. I begged my parents to let me do it with my dad, and they agreed. We walked almost the entire 25 miles through the desert (it’s a marathon now, but it wasn’t when it first started). I still remember crossing the finish line; it felt amazing.
I continued to sign up for the same race every year and eventually ran my first marathon when I was around 10-12 years old. When I got older, I started signing up for all the races in our area, including 5ks, 10ks, and marathons. I wasn’t winning, but that wasn’t important to me. It was about pushing myself to the limit.
Things got really crazy when I went to college. My father was always supportive of my running and regularly signed up for events with me. With his support and access to a vehicle, I found myself doing a race almost every weekend. Some weekends, I would run a 10k on Saturday and do a sprint triathlon on Sunday. I was addicted, and almost all my disposable income went toward signing up for races.
When I was 19, my dad asked me if I wanted to do an ultramarathon. At first, I thought it was crazy, but I replied that I wasn’t against it and would have to work on my training. Five minutes later, he signed us up for a 50-miler that year.
I won’t go into too much detail, but within a year, I finished my first trail 50 miler, and it opened my eyes to a whole new level of crazy races out there. After that, I attempted everything and anything, including 50 milers, 100ks, 100 milers, Goruck challenges, endurance races like the 36hr Ultimate Suck, and eventually the granddaddy of them all, the Spartan Death Race. I succeeded a lot but I definitely failed a lot as well, it gave me something to work towards, another challenge, and another way to push myself. It was never about winning; it was always about having fun and seeing how far I could go.
My 20s were chaotic, and I loved them. However, my thirties have definitely been different. My interests and priorities have changed now. I used to wake up at 4 in the morning to go for a run or workout, and I used to go for 20-mile runs in the mountains on weekends just for fun. But now, I wake up early to study, and I spend most of my weekends reviewing material and learning as much as I can.
Don’t get me wrong; I still work out and run, but it’s no longer my top priority. I don’t think I’ll ever stop working out or running because it’s always been my place to reflect on myself and acknowledge my faults, and more importantly, form strategies to work on them. It’s important to me, but I don’t have the desire to put my body through the same kind of strain as before.
Thanks for reading this far! I wanted to explain why I chose the name Binary Blisters; it helps present who I am. This blog has multiple purposes: improving my writing, keeping a public record of my efforts, and spending more time self-reflecting. Keep an eye out, as I will be writing about a wide range of topics, such as exams I’m preparing for or new races coming up. I hope to keep the possibilities open.
As always, thanks for reading,
sgtdiddlywink
