Running away from my problems

Introduction

I’m starting this blog post the day after I finished my first Half Marathon, which was an amazing experience. I’ve never really identified as a runner (or a fitness enthusiast in general), and wanted to document my fitness journey on how I got here, and what my goals are going forward.

As a kid, I did a couple of physical activities, mostly spurred by my parents. This included Taekwondo, baseball, and even a basketball camp one summer. In high school, I actually chose to do something out of my own volition, which was recreational soccer. That was pretty enjoyable, I even made a couple friends (one of which I would later end up rooming with and introducing to his now wife). With all of these activities, I never really made much of an effort to be good, I was mostly just along for the ride. Athletic was never really a word I would have used to described myself, but things started to take a turn for the better a couple years later.

My Lifting Era

My first year of college, I was asked by a friend of mine who I went to high school with to join him in the gym (shoutout to Marco). I’d never really lifted before, and the gym had always intimidated me. I’ve been pretty skinny throughout my whole life (I was never able to donate blood as I never met the minimum weight), and the idea of me lifting heavy weights was kind of crazy. However, having an accountability buddy, as well as someone to help me with the basics was really helpful. I’m somewhat of a self-improvement junkie, and so seeing my lifts increase over time was super motivating.

I think it was sometime in my second year of college though that I really started to put a bit more focus into lifting. I discovered the amazing YouTube channel of Alan Thrall, who had a ton of great content on proper form and cues for big lifts. Deadlifts and squats had always been pretty scary, as bad form can really mess you up, but I was able to get confidence from his videos. I had a friend record me while squatting, and posted it on reddit for form critique (in which I discovered I had buttwink). I started to consume whey protein, and really tried to up my caloric intake. I started exploring different programming, notably Ice Cream Fitness was awesome during the summer of my sophomore year.By my 3rd year of college, I was actually able to do what Marco did for me, and took a friend to the gym and helped them work through their squat form and help to relieve their gym anxiety.

Atrophy

I don’t quite remember when I fell off the lifting wagon, but at some point I did. I think I got sick for a week or two at one point, and breaking the habit made it hard to start again. I started focusing my time on some other interests, and the gym just kind of feel by the wayside. I ended up moving to Seattle in 2017, and lived across the street from a 24-hour gym, and tried to hop back on the wagon. It was a lot easier the second time, I knew what to do and how to do it, I just had to actually get it done. I got back into it for a short while, and I think got sick again and fell off the wagon, again. A couple years in, I decided to try living alone, and was super excited to sign up for a fancy gym near my apartment, and try again. However, COVID-19 hit, and everything shut down, including my motivation. I had a short stint of joining a gym and lifting a little somewhere during the pandemic, but it was short-lived.

You’re a runner now ‘Arry

In the spring of 2021, I moved back to North Carolina, and took a bit of time to get settled into the area again. Late in 2022, a friend of mine was trying to rally the friend group to run the Tar Heel 10 Miler, and I got peer pressured into signing up. I bought myself a pair of running shoes, a watch that could download spotify songs, and started going on runs. Similar to my soccer experience, I wasn’t very intentional about my training, I just went out onto some trails and just pushed myself until I was tired, walked a bit, and then pushed myself back to my car. Race day ended up rolling around, and it was a blast! There are both mental and physical elements to performing well in any physical competition, and the environment of the race really helped my mental. There were folks cheering on the sidelines the whole race, as well as thousands of other runners pushing themselves. I ended up doing better than expected, and really enjoyed running with my friends.

Probably in part due to my erratic training routine, in the months following the race, my knees started to hurt after running more than a mile or two. I ended up taking a break from running for a bit, got back into it in the fall, and then promptly had a collision with a bike on Black Friday. I was turning around without looking behind me, while at the same time a biker was trying to pass me. I ended up being fine, losing a headphone, while the biker ended up fracturing his collarbone. Now I ALWAYS get on the side of the trail, look both ways on the trail, and very carefully turn around after that incident.

The Half Marathon

Doing a half-marathon was never really a goal of mine, I mostly signed up for it at a friend’s encouragement. I had declined his offer to join him the year prior, but this year decided to bite the bullet. Similar to the last race I ran, my training was pretty sporadic, although my motivation had slightly changed (more on this later). Over the summer, I was recommended the fleet fleet half-marathon training program by a friend, and after a bit of deliberation, decided to sign up. I wasn’t looking particularly forward to the 7am saturday runs, but it ended up being the best decision I would make that year.

The first run with the group I was a little awkward. The group was divided into pace groups based on speed, and I got a little cocky and overestimated my athleticism. I had to stop near the end gasping for air, which was a good indicator for me to dial it back a little. The next workout I slowed down a bit, and was actually able to have a conversation with people whilst not pushing myself to exhaustion. Everyone was incredibly friendly and welcoming, and after a couple of weeks, started to learn peoples names and become a part of the community. I spent a decent couple of hours each group running with the same people, slowly building both friendships and my endurance. I got to ask questions about shoes, goals, journeys, and favorite snacks from folks who had been running for years. Before I knew it, 12 weeks had whizzed by, and race day was here.

I ended up doing really well, achieving my goal time with a couple of minutes to spare. I had worked harder towards this goal than I had towards any other physical goal in my life, and it was incredibly rewarding to see the fruits of my labor. I went for a victory lunch with some friends after, and spent the rest of the day relaxing contently. I was hungry for more though, and set my sights on doing a full marathon the following fall. That I suspect will be a separate blog post, so stay tuned!

Takeaways

The most important thing about exercise is enjoyment

I think one of the biggest factors in my success in the half-marathon was the community I found. I actually looked forward to running. It was a chance to socialize, and release some pent-up energy. I wasn’t hyper focused on hitting a certain time, my focus was running at an easy pace and enjoying the journey. As my mentors so often reminded me, “Run slow to run fast”, which was incredibly counter-intuitive. While I was pleased with my progress weightlifting, I smiled and laughed so much more during my weekly group runs than I ever did in the gym.

Showing up is the hardest part

With anything challenging in life, hard work and consistency are necessary to reach your goals. Consistency in particular has been tricky for me, as you saw in my gym journey earlier. Having people to poke fun at you for missing a workout and hold you accountable kept me waking up early on Saturday mornings, even when I really didn’t want to.

Music makes everything better

This point in particular may not be applicable to everyone, but running with music was a game changer. I’ve recently gotten into EDM and the upbeat tempo and bass drops helped to keep my pace up, and gave me a mental boost on race day. I ended up buying bone conduction headphones, which allowed me to listen to music while still being aware of my surroundings.

I have a couple of people I know who also run, and seeing their journey has been really inspiring. I see people post about their runs halfway across the world in South Africa, I see coworkers get up bright and early and squeeze in a run before coming to the office. I see friends from run club go on runs even when they are in Portugal for a wedding. Seeing everyone else put in the hard work helps to motivate me to do the same. Hopefully I’ll be a positive influence on the people in my life as well, whether it be via Strava or this blog post.

What’s next?

As mentioned before, I have my sights set on a full marathon in the fall. Specifically, 2025 marks the 50th anniversary of the Marine Core Marathon, which seems like it will be an awesome event. The idea of doubling my distance is still pretty daunting, but I’m sure I’ll slowly make my way there over the next year. We’ll see if I do more fulls after that, but I think I will for sure try to beat my half-marathon PR in the future.

More generally though, I think running will be a hobby I have for life. I’m a pretty driven and passionate person, but as a consequence of that, I often apply a lot of stress to myself to get things done. Running has been an amazing outlet to regulate that stress, and I’ve noticed significant improvements in my overall mood and mental health.