4 year Anniversary tomorrow!

We’ve all had this happen to us…
I was at a happy hour last night, and I spoke to a guy who wants to start running more. He is up to 4 miles on his own. He had all the usual beginners questions, and although Kam and I tried to not overwhelm him with our answers, I think he still thinks we’re nuts . He was truly amazed at what he considered were remarkable numbers some friends and I were telling him that we run. Maybe not from a distant planet like Jupiter, as he runs 4 miles (3 times a week) at 5:30am on his own, but we’re definitely not from this planet in his eyes. Those conversations are always funny to me, because at the end of the day, we’re human like anyone else, we just have a different hobby. Not unlike, say, a gamer that spends 15 hours a week saving the planet with his online buddies, or a woman who spends 15 hours a week knitting, quilting or painting. Regardless, people just think we’re some weird alien no matter how we downplay it. Last night was even worse since a couple of 100mile trail race finishers were in attendance too, so it was a lost cause!! ( I mean, even I think they’re from Neptune!)

This Saturday (tomorrow) will mark the official 4 year anniversary of my running life.
Sure, I technically started in early August as I needed to get up to the required ability to run 4 continuous miles to be able to join the Motive ½ marathon training program (under the coaching of Carolyn M), but I can’t count those weeks because it was truly a pathetic 4 weeks of just getting myself to the ability to run 2 miles out from the house and then run home. I had run a 5km once, and actually survived the Cap 10k a couple of years prior too, but nothing more than a few 2 or 3 mile loops over the years to keep my wife company, but ugh, I was the typical person who just couldn’t get to the point of liking running.

I can’t tell you how many of those runs over those 4 weeks were truly silly, as I would run for 3 or 400 meters then stop to walk a minute, (while Karma just wanted to go go go since he was up to 10+ miles with my wife!). I just couldn’t. And I was cursing every step. I literally HATED the idea, but I was going to get myself to 4 miles, just one time, and see what the rave about running in a group was all about.
Half of me was doing it to please her; the other half was doing it to prove to myself that I could indeed finish a half marathon. (but never would I ever run a marathon. NO WAY! is what I'd tell coach Carolyn!) The other part was that I just couldn’t keep playing soccer anymore. Both outdoor teams I was playing on were not fun. One was an over 30 league where I was on an all Hispanic team (remember, I grew up in Mexico), and I was about 10 times more in shape than any of my teammates who all looked like they’d eaten one too many burritos in their life. The other team was pretty good, we moved up from Div 5 to Div 3 in 3 successive years, but it wasn’t enjoyable. This wasn’t a “team” as there was so much bickering amongst the team, that I would leave every game pissed off at everyone’s attitude and lack of “team” play. It’s hard enough to win a game, it’s next to impossible when everyone is yelling at each other instead of encouraging and positively reinforcing mistakes to get a good outcome on the next play. (I left the team along with 3 others, so I wasn’t the only one that got tired of it). My indoor team was great, but the hard ground was beating my ankles and knees to a pulp to the point that I could barely walk up stairs on the 3rd day after a game.
Ok, let’s get off memory lane and onto the running superhighway.
I showed up that Saturday morning with the intention of doing the beginner distances. To my surprise, I got talked into Advanced with friend’s of my wife’s Amanda McGregor, Sheri Sundstrom and Chris Ewert whom in my eyes were all accomplished semi-professional athletes having just completed a ½ Ironman!!! All I could repeatedly say to myself was for the first month was… “YIKES! What the hell have I gotten myself into!”
And the rest is history.

4 years of running, here are some main highlights:
I didn’t keep a log of my running the entire first year, so I lack complete data for training distance.
However, in the last 3 years I have run: 6,871 miles


5KM Total: 6 races
First one ever March 2004: 24:14 @ 7:48min/mile pace. (soccer player)
Fastest one: March 2007- 19:49 @ 6:22pace (after an 8mile run)
Improvement: 21:24, 20:33, 19:54, 19:49.

10KM Total: 6 races
First one ever: 46:16 @ 7:26pace
Fastest one: Oct 2008 – 38:41 @ 6:13pace (faster than my 5km record pace!)
Improvement: 46:16, 44:48, 43:14, 39:58, 38:41

Half Marathons : 5 races
First one ever: Nov 2005 1:54:38 @ 8:45pace
Fastest one: Jan 2007 1:28:32 @ 6:45pace
Improvements: 1:54:38, 1:41:43, 1:37:24, 1:32:46, 1:28:32

Marathons: 8 Total (7 road, 1 trail)
First Ever: Feb 2007 - 3:56:17 @ 9:00 mile
Fastest one: April 2009 – 3:03:06 @ 6:59 pace
Improvements in personal best : 3:56:17, 3:21:06, 3:08:12, 3:03:06

Trail Race distance progression: 10km, 25km, 30km, 42km(marathon), 50km, 60km.
(in miles: 6.2miles, 15.5miles, 18.6miles, 26.2miles, 32miles, 37.3 miles)

5 awards: 1st place age group(30-39)in daisy 5km. 3rd place Age group(30-35) Starflight 5km, 3rd place Age group trail marathon, 1st place age group(30-39) trail 50km, 2nd place overall 60km trail.

Future plans : 50 mile trail(80km), 62mile trail(100km), Boston 2010 (sub 3hrs)

Let’s see what else the future brings!