I am a runner - My story

When I was young and even before I could remember I’ve been a runner and as I’ve gotten older the reason I run has evolved along with my age. Sometimes it’s fun and I enjoy every moment of it. The next day it may be difficult and wonder why am I doing this to myself? One day it may be an escape from the hustle and bustle of my daily life. The reason I run constantly evolves. However, one fact remains, “I am a runner.”

Fun

As a young child, maybe 3 or 4 years old, no matter where I was at I would say “Dad time me to that sign” and off sprinting I would go. This wasn’t inclusive to my parents. When I was with my grandparents I would do the same “Frama time to the end of the street!” and off running, I would go. No matter who I was with or where I was at I was always running, and yes I did call my grandma “frama”.

In elementary school, during P.E. one of my teachers would have us run one mile each day and more if we wanted. I never stopped with one mile and I always ran as much as I could. I wasn't ever concerned about how fast or far anybody else. I just enjoyed it!

Competitive enjoyment

I was never really competitive when it came to running until I reached 6th grade. I think I was 11 years old at the time and during our end of the year field day, we had a one-mile race. I ran as hard as I could and got second, in 7:48 (crazy I still remember all my race times) and I thought that the time was super fast but I was upset that someone had run faster than I did! Sadly, I never got a chance to race that kid again after that!

A few months later my family and I moved to Texas as I was entering middle school and I quickly joined the cross country team. This is where I began becoming really competitive with my running. I quickly succeeded on the team and was the fastest 7th grader at my school and then the following year in 8th grade the fastest in my entire district.

I won two district races in track winning the 2400 meters (8:15) and 1600 (5:08) meter races and I thought I was "hot stuff" and that I could go to High School and be faster than everybody else.

In high school, on my first day of practice, I got chewed up and spit out. The practice was hard, long and so many people were faster than me. It was discouraging to me. I didn't quit though and I stuck it out. I ended up making the varsity team as a freshmen but I was our 6th man and typically didn't even count towards the team scoring. Three more years went by in a blur. I grew as a runner, I knew how hard I could push myself, how to race more efficiently and more importantly how to become a team leader. For the last 2 years of high school, I was our fastest runner. But in order to make our team better just being fast wasn't enough and I grew to embrace the role of motivating others and keeping our team together.

I left High School was a school record in the 1600 meters (4:25) and multiple district championships. My team junior year in cross country had the best finish at regionals to date in the 5A division finishing 4th place behind teams that were ranked nationally. I was recruited to many small schools to run for them but instead opted to go run at a division 1 university as a walk-on.

Competitive and Frustrated

I never got to a point in college running where I enjoyed it. We worked out twice a day and I was always tired. On top of that, the competition was at a whole different level that I was never able to reach. Even when I ran my fastest time for 1500 meter (3:57) I still wasn't competitive when the top runners in my conference. For fives years I endured running on the team out of nostalgia. The belief that I enjoyed running and that it was fun. But in the end, I had lost sight of running being fun and it had turned into a "job" for me.

Day in and day out I ran twice a day and it was mentally and physically draining and when it ended after five years I was pretty happy.

Not a runner

For quite a few years, 6 years to be exact I wasn't a runner anymore. I barely ran more than maybe 3 or 4 times a month and that was a lot if I did run that many times. I got out of shape, gained a little weight, not much due to being active in many other ways. Even though I was staying active something felt like it was missing.

I rarely felt like I had a lot of energy and work days felt long and slow. I'd come home and want to do nothing more than sit on the couch and be lazy. I knew at this point I really needed a change.

Fun

Now, at 29 years of age, I set up a new goal qualify for the Boston marathon in roughly 4 months. Even though I am working hard again and running most days. I found something that is fun. I'm running for myself again and that has a made a huge different in my perspective. Even though some of the runs are hard and I am a bit sore somedays I feel like I have a lot more energy and I am looking forward to building on being a runner again for "fun".

In conclusion, for me at least, if you are doing something just because you are good at it. It will lose enjoyment and there is a good chance that you will quit out right. Thus, if you are going to spend a lot of time on something make sure that you can find enjoyment in that time!