600k Origin Story: Part I

Earlier this week, TheRealTrain blog passed the 600,000 view mark. It’s been amazing to watch the comments and support roll in over the years and I can’t thank you enough for your contributions. It’s times like these that make me think back to the very beginning of this blog and its humble origins …

X-Men Origins: TheRealTrain Blog

On Monday, May 27^th, 2013, it seemed like the etrain was pulling into the state for the final time. In a piece called “Brett Favre”, Jarrett “etrain11” Felix announced his retirement from the blogging world and ended the site etrain11.blogspot.com. There were tears and high pitched screams of pain in the streets. But enough about how Jarrett handled the decision.

Although there were a few nostalgic comments, the blogging titans that remained knew etrain’s relinquishing of the throne had opened the doors for an unprecedented power struggle. There was not even an Articles of Confederation, let alone a Constitution. So in the subsequent madness, one brave soul moved forward. At 11:38 AM, etrain had retired and surrendered the kingdom. By 7:04 PM, an anonymous commenter, choosing to go by the name “PA Don’t Play” revealed that he had started a new blog before the body was even cold. Metaphorically speaking of course. It was May and the weather was pretty nice.

But this anonymous “PA Don’t Play” was new and inexperienced. He could not hope to anonymously control the kingdom on his own. And there were others hungry to stay involved. To share their opinion. To produce their own rankings. To make their own horrid puns and weird rap references. Just as etrain had before them. So the giants of the industry, the colossuses of keyboards joined forces. RTJ, ForrestCRN and RJJL flocked to the PA Don’t Play site and the kingdom remained whole and undivided.  

Over the proceeding summer, etrain traveled abroad. For the first time he went far, far away from the great state of Pennsylvania to the foreign land of New York City. His focus was no longer on Top 50 Rankings or comment moderation. Instead, he took up fiction writing in a story he called (for no logical reason really) “The Real Train”. A few stayed loyal to the fallen king, hoping maybe he would return to his old tricks, but as the seasons changed from summer to fall, it was clear that he was not coming back.

Then, on November 14^th 2013, a new website popped up with the title “etrain11: the aftermath”. It was still not analysis of high school distance running. It wasn’t really much of anything besides a crappy post. He was rustier than a bike left out in the rain. About a week later, on November 19^th, 2013, he made another post. This one was longer and filled with Drake references. There were signs of his old self.

The old keyboardist had clearly been feeling nostalgic. He had just finished his final cross country race in a Muhlenberg uniform. He was sad and vulnerable. Probably eating ice cream. Preferably cookies and cream. Something about giving in to his old temptation felt right. And even though there was no one reading, he continued to spout off random blog posts. Like really random ones.

On Friday, December 6^th he posted his shortest post ever: “Last night I had a dream that I met Steph Curry and Kevin Durant. Then I woke up … maybe one day …” If that wasn’t a cry for help I don’t know what was.

But by the end of 2013, he had found his swagger again. He posted up the “Bold Predictions for 2014” post and he felt very good about it. A couple of his former knights of the round table even happened across the post and left comments of appreciation. In the month of December, he made 14 posts. In February, he made 25 posts, including another round of … PA HS Predictions.

He had been doing his best to hold back on the Pennsylvania material. He had surrendered the kingdom willingly and stepping into the city limits with a sword was sure to start some type of civil war. But it was what he knew better than anything and the words flowed from his brain to his hands so naturally. The obscure references to runners in the early 2000s that no one cares about now came to him with ease. And posts like “Wisconsin, Oreos and Giannis Antetokounmpo” were not easy to come up with. Before long, the blog’s focus made a sincere shift to high school content just like his original blog. Etrain was back.

Perhaps some were happy etrain was back. Perhaps some were not. Most people in the world had no idea that etrain was there originally or that he had gone so they likely had no opinion whatsoever on him being “back”. Etrain himself as one weird patch of hair only in the right corner of his back. So there was a lot going on. But regardless, there now appeared to be two blogs with similar purposes as PA Don’t Play had continued to grow and was bigger than etrain’s original blog had ever been. So how would two blogs fit in the kingdom? What would the citizens of the kingdom think of another blog being pushed onto their land? Is this metaphor getting a little too forced?

To his great appreciation, the blogging community welcomed him back and both sites were able to continue a peaceful coexistence. By the summer of 2014, etrain was a college graduate and found himself without the burden of school work for the first time. Naturally, he chose to fill that time with talking about running (rather than doing anything that was actually productive). Unfortunately for PA Don’t Play’s leader, Forrest, he did not have that luxury and keeping posts coming at a consistent rate was hard, but thankfully he was able to add talented writers Evan Hatton and Chris Cummings and give his site some extra spark. In the fall of 2014, things were going excellently for the blogging kingdom and the civilians were happy exulting. Even the trolls would occasionally wander down from the hills to exchange pleasantries.

Personally, I think etrain enjoyed the chance to have other writers take on some of the burden of posting. It gave him the opportunity to explore more untraditional posts and experiment with different ideas. I’d bet he probably feels like this period of time allowed him to hone his craft and improve his writing and style more so than ever. I also think it made him realize how important it was to have other bloggers contributing, maybe even expanding the size of the kingdom. In case you didn’t pick up on it that was some hard core foreshadowing.

After a productive fall of XC discussion, TheRealTrain blog was starting to hit its stride again. In October 2014, the blog saw 30,000 views. Then, on December 9^th, 2014 etrain made an odd post. “etrainLXV Coming January 2015”. A few days later, he made another post trying to hype LXV with made up quotes from runners. On December 18^th, he produced the always popular Bold Predictions for 2015 post and practically beat us over the head with LXV references. It’s like seriously dude, sometimes you just try a little too hard.

On January 24^th, 2015 at 7 o’clock, etrain released the new platform for the blog that was etrainLXV. The LXV is “65” in Roman Numerals and is meant to signal that the blog was taking a more “365 days a year” approach and looking to expand coverage. The 24^th was chosen to signify 24 hours a day and the 7 o’clock time was to signify 7 days a week. It’s one of those unnecessary symbolism things that etrain likes to do probably only for his own personal enjoyment because I don’t anyone else knows or cares.

The new platform featured different tabs for different types of coverage and made the site more than just one string of posts on the front page, but a layered and diverse instrument (i.e. there were now strings of posts on more than one page!). But etrain knew he could not possibly hope to maintain this level of coverage on his own. If he was truly going to grow the blog into all he had envisioned for LXV, then he would need the help of others. Others like him with odd passions, reasonable writing skills and questionable social skills.

And that’s where my story ends … and the others begin …