In the book, a running journal that serves as memoir, Murakami writes about his runs, including his preparation for the 2005 New York Marathon, his 100-kilometer ultra-marathon and his running, in reverse, of the original marathon route—from Athens to Marathon. The book provides details only hardcore runners and Murakami die-hard fans would appreciate.

TRAINING JOURNALS help you keep track of your progress and guard against doing too much, too soon in training. (Photo above was taken last year, that's why the journal is for 2010) CLICK ON PHOTO TO ENLARGE.

Not everyone can have his or her running journal published as a book, even in today’s do-it-yourself publishing and digital formats. Not all runners keep track of training minutiae or obsess over time, distance and pace. But all regular runners, however, should take the effort to record their runs and keep a running journal.

Running journals help people keep track of their training progress to guard against a common cause of injury: doing too much too soon. Many running experts advise people to increase either their mileage or intensity by not more than 10 percent a week. If your total mileage last week was 30 kilometers, you should do no more than 33 kilometers this week.

That advice, however, is followed more in the breach, ask runners you know.

But a running journal would warn you if you are doing “too much” too much. You cannot run 10 kilometers last week, 60 kilometers this week and 150 kilometers next week then repeat that insane cycle for months and still hope to be running a decade later.

Running journals can also help you stay motivated especially if (unlike me) you see progress in your speed, endurance or weight loss.

There are many free website services and software that can serve as your digital running journal. If you use a Garmin global positioning system (GPS) watch, you should sign up with its Garmin Connect web portal at http://connect.garmin.com.

Garmin Connect is the best web-based running journal today. It’s so easy to use—you just connect your Garmin GPS watch to your computer and upload the data and you’ll have a visual representation of data on your run. Garmin Connect will allow you to replay your run (you are represented by a map place marker) and at any time you’d know your speed, pace, elevation or even heart rate.

Another good web-based journal is Dailymile.com, which processes fewer data than Garmin Connect but makes up for it by providing a social networking layer. Dailymile is Facebook for runners, cyclists and triathletes. It provides a leaderboard that compares your weekly mileage with that of your contacts, providing a competitive kick to your training.

Social networks help people meet their goals. Dominican University of California psychology professor Dr. Gail Matthews found that “people who wrote down their goals, shared this information with a friend, and sent weekly updates to that friend were on average 33 percent more successful in accomplishing their stated goals than those who merely formulated goals.” Dailymile, and Facebook for the general populace, can do that for you.

But for many people, nothing beats paper running journals. It isn’t just being traditionalist, its backed by research: writing by hand trains the brain and you learn more effectively writing than typing. Writing, some say, also works more effectively in helping you keep track of your goals.

RUNNER’S WORLD. This training journal by Runner’s World includes tips and motivational quotations.

One good paper running journal is that sold by Runner’s World. A week of entries occupy a whole spread that also contains training tips and motivational quotes. The journal, which you can buy in Amazon.com, also helps you keep track of so-called rave runs, those that stand out and are memorable. Moleskine pocket calendars can also serve as good (albeit expensive) running journals. If you’re a coffee addict, the free planners offered by Starbucks can also serve as a good running journal.

The girl ran about 11 kilometers in what seemed to be her first 10K.

In the absence of a local certification body, you just take organizers’ word that their race routes really are the distances that they announce these to be.

MEASURING ROUTES WITH GOOGLE MAPS. Google Maps allows you to draw a line on its street, satellite and terrain maps to measure distances. CLICK ON PHOTO ABOVE TO VIEW LARGER IMAGE.

In most cases, they are, at least to within the margin of error of a few meters. But in some races, the distance is way off the chart you’d wonder whether the organizers actually measured the route in the first place.

To accurately measure a route, the best tool to use is a global position system (GPS) device. Many runners now use GPS watches to measure runs as well as determine such things as pace and even heart rate.

A popular GPS brand is the Garmin Forerunner line. Garmin is, in my opinion, the best GPS watch brand because it offers consumers a top-of-its-class device and an equally stellar after-sales support—the Garmin Connect website that not only serves as an exercise logbook that stores all of your runs but a repository of all the data related to each workout. With Garmin Connect, you can replay all your runs—a placeholder moves with your exact coordinates on a map and at any given point, you’d know your coordinates, distance and elevation.

If you’re really serious on your running, you’d do well investing on a GPS watch. It allows you to accurately measure your progress.

But if you don’t have a GPS watch, how can you measure your running route?

Race organizers drive through their routes and measure these using their car’s odometer. Some use bicycles. That method has varying degrees of success. I know of certain routes measured that way that came up short.

The easiest way to measure running routes is to do it online.

In the middle of this decade, Google gave rise to web mapping services when it started Google Maps, probably the best mapping application on the Internet.

For runners, Google Maps is almost heaven-sent. The website allows you to draw lines on street, satellite and terrain maps and measure points. That way, you can accurately measure distances.

To measure distances, go to maps.google.com and sign in with your Google account. If you still don’t have a Google account, sign up with the company’s popular free e-mail service Gmail to get one.

Once you’re in, go to the My Maps section and click on Browse Directory. Look for the Distance Measurement Tool and click on the Add it to Maps button under it.

To start measuring routes, just zoom into the area in the map where you want to run then click on My Maps and then click on Distance Measurement Tool. You can choose whether to use the Metric or English system.

Click on the point in the map where you want to start running. Continue clicking on areas where you want to run and the system will add it to the line. At the left portion of the screen, you will see the total distance of the route.

DAILYMILE. The social network for runners, triathletes and bikers offers a tool to plan and measure running routes. CLICK ON IMAGE ABOVE TO VIEW LARGER PHOTO

Another way to measure routes is to do it through DailyMile. DailyMile is a social network for runners and triathletes. It’s a community logbook for your runs and exercise sessions.

The site has a route planner section. In that section you can draw lines on a map and the system gives you a running total of the distance and even renders kilometer markers.

With the ease by which distances can be measured using online tools, there aren’t any excuses for organizers to make a mistake in the distance of their race routes.

Dailymile is a website that serves as training log for runners, cyclists and triathletes. What differentiates it from sites like Garmin Connect is that it has a social networking component. It allows you to connect with other runners, cyclists or triathletes. You can view your workouts as well as that of your contacts and people near your location in a Twitter-like stream of entries.

MY DAILYMILE PROFILE PAGE. Dailymile is a cool social training log for runners, cyclists and triathletes. It now supports both Nike+ and Garmin devices. CLICK TO ENLARGE.

I used the site for a while in July but stopped visiting it when I discovered Garmin Connect. The site supported Nike+ but didn’t work with the Garmin Forerunner. Since I use a Forerunner 305 to track my runs, I had to manually enter records in dailymile and it was tedious. Without Garmin support, I didn’t have the incentive to continue maintaining my dailymile account. But for so long, the site indicated that Garmin support was “coming soon” so I didn’t delete my account.

Garmin Connect, on the other hand, imported everything from the device—total distance, GPS points, pace, elevation, heartbeat monitor data etc. The site also has a very useful and well-implemented feature to replay your runs.

When I checked back my dailymile account early this morning to approve a friend request, I found a notification for the beta testing of Garmin support. I registered my Garmin Forerunner 305 and was prompted to enter my Garmin Connect account.

KEEPING TRACK. Dailymile allows you to keep track of your runs—your fastest, longest and most intense. The site said my fastest run was during the Quota Club 12K classic, when I ran at an average pace of 5:27 per kilometer. CLICK ON PHOTO TO ENLARGE.

Dailymile supports Garmin devices through the Communicator plugin that users install to make their devices work with the Garmin Connect website. I had already installed the plugin in my computer so I was ready to import my runs. If you still haven’t installed the plugin, get it from the Garmin website.

To make your Garmin device work with dailymile, just enter your Garmin Connect username and password by clicking on the settings link at the top right portion of the screen and then clicking on devices link in the left menu.

Importing data from the Garmin Forerunner 305 took just a few minutes. At first, it seemed that the Google Chrome browser froze but when I checked my account, I found that dailymile had successfully imported data that were still in the device.

There were a few kinks, though, when I added details to the records.

Dailymile wasn’t able to render the map for my unplanned marathon last March 2 so I had to manually plot the run again. It also wasn’t able to render a map for my Cebu City Marathon 21K run and my Condura Run 21K. I also ended up entering the brands and types of shoes I used twice because the site didn’t prompt me that the data was already entered—the window that popped up kept showing a loading indicator.

The hours that I spent trying out dailymile today was a very pleasant experience. The site is more than just an excellent online logbook for your training and races, it is also a great community that will allow you to meet other runners and athletes. Dailymile even allows you to setup virtual races or challenges.

Dailymile was able to keep track of 42 of my runs totaling 517.39 kilometers. For all that running, I only managed to lose 10 pounds but the site said I burned an equivalent of 201 donuts and expended energy enough to power 56.33 television sets. It also said I earned 62 cheeseburgers, which I have no plans of ever collecting , and that I covered just .01 of the world.

While Garmin Connect will still serve as primary record of my runs, I see myself using dailymile more frequently to track my kilometers and be in contact with other runners. Are you in dailymile? Add me as a contact. Here’s the link to my profile page.

DAILYMILE lists your workouts in a stream of updates similar to what you see in social networks. CLICK ON PHOTO TO ENLARGE

It’s easy. Use Google Maps.

PLANNING, MEASURING LONG RUN ROUTE. Google Maps allows you to plan ahead and measure your running routes. Above is the route I planned for our two-city long run this Sunday, Nov. 1. Click on photo to view larger image.

Google Maps offers two tools that allow you to trace a route on a map, satellite image or a composite of the two, and then measure its distance. To use the tool, log into Google Maps using your GMail account and then click on My Maps and then choose Browse Directory.

You will then be presented with several add-ons to your Google Maps account. You can either pick Distance Measurement Tool or Area and Distance Calculator. I’ve long been using Area and Distance Calculator but I recently tested Distance Measurement Tool and found it to be better. Click on the Add it to Maps button below the tool area.

After adding the tool, just load a map and start tracing your route. The panel on the left side will keep updating you on the total distance of the route you are tracing on the map.

Is it accurate?

In my experience, yes. I plan out Marlen’s and my Sunday long runs using Google Maps and then use a Garmin 205 for the actual run. The variances in distance are negligible.