Becoming a Runner

My journey to becoming a runner is one of learning a new language, breaks, pain, struggle, and finally, persistence. I never ran for fun in my life before I started dating my girlfriend in 2018. She did. She came from a family who runs Turkey Trots on Thanksgiving to “earn” the meal. She runs on vacation “for fun.” She enjoys working hard and suffering through a run to “feel better after.” All of these ideologies were extremely foreign to me. I grew up playing baseball where mostly the furthest run is a sprint from home plate to first base, or 90 feet. I grew up playing football where you ran more than baseball but had breaks after every 3 to 5 seconds of action. I grew up playing lacrosse where you run more than baseball and football but you have minutes of breaks between the shifts you are on the field. Basically, I grew up sprinting—not running long distances, slowly. Going for a run was a foreign concept. However, she enjoys running so to bond with her, I assumed I was in shape enough to partake in her hobby. My first 3-mile run with her I finished dripping in sweat, breathing heavily, realizing football shape was not running shape, but I had finished. I learned my first lesson in this new language of running, it’s not a walk in the park.

Fast forward to the Covid outbreak of 2020. All gyms had closed. The most effective ways to stay in shape were bodyweight exercises and getting outside and running. So that is what I did. After finding Nike Run Club, running now became a game. I was able to track my runs and compare the miles run to my friends and specifically my girlfriend. I wanted to beat her on the monthly leaderboards but never really came close. Still, I had a mini breakthrough during the initial lockdown period from March to August 2020. I ran alone during lockdown, went back to college and briefly joined a running club, Prolyfyck, and logged over 200 miles during the year. The runs were not getting easier but I was getting faster. I could run the fastest 5k and fastest mile I had ever run. Although there were weird circumstances happening where I would burn out after 4 miles, and struggle to continue at any pace near what I was running up to that point. The second lesson I learned from this experience, I learned through reflection in 2022, not during this time. Running fast was not what made you an overall better runner, to do that I needed to slow down and build my aerobic base. Regardless of my progress in 2020, I nearly stopped running in 2021.

In 2021 I started with a goal of hitting 365 miles run over the year, building from my 2020. This is a goal I did not come close to reaching. The first hill run I ran in January of 2021 I suffered double shin splints that plagued me for months. The result? I ran 118.4 miles in 2021. This pain was in addition to the Achilles and ankle pain I suffered from after every single run, regardless of the distance or pace I ran. Debilitating pain that would cause my body to seemingly forget how to walk. This Achilles and ankle pain stemmed from a dislocated ankle and two subsequent ankle surgeries in 2017. Physical therapy promised to make me better but every time I tried to run, pain would bother me for the rest of the day. I walked with a limp during my whole freshman season of college football. Living with pain after my runs was normal for me. A normal that made running even less enjoyable. However, this pain brought me another lesson in this new language of running. Another lesson I would not learn at the time but from reflection in 2022. Fixing running form can alleviate issues. Just because you have “always run this way” does not mean it is the way you should continue.

By now we have seen my journey of struggling to learn this new language that is running, the pain I endured, and the breaks I took. Starting 2022 I once again had the goal to run 365 miles in the calendar year. I took the beginning of the year from a biological and scientific level and realized my heart rate spiked immensely on short runs. This led me attempting to work on my aerobic capacity. However, I was not consistent. As of August 1st, over 2 years since 2020, when I ran over 200 miles, I was at 84.85 miles and was struggling with little aerobic base. A positive during this time period was I had taken the month of June to look at my form and switch from a heal runner to instead land my mid-foot. Deliberate attention to this helped me break a lifetime habit of running on my heels. With this change, I experienced dramatically less pain after my runs and was newly motivated.

As of August 1st, The runner’s high was not something I ever experienced. Running was not fun. I decided to lean into this and give it my all. In August, one of the hottest months in Florida, I ran all 30 days. I started slowly with 1.3 miles a day for a week, then would add 0.5 miles at the start of each week. My rules for this period were pace did not matter, heart rate was my sole focus. That, and getting outside and putting my feet on the pavement every day. By the end of the month, I had a breakthrough with how running made me feel. I no longer dealt with constant Achilles or ankle pain AND I was able to run a couple of miles at a time at an “easy” pace. Not everything was a chore. By the end of the month, I began to experience the “runner’s high” and understand why people enjoy running.

Fast forwarding to the end of 2022, I accomplished a number of running achievements I am proud of. I surpassed my goal of 365 miles in the year and finished with 388.2, having run 303.35 miles since August 1st. I signed up for a 5-mile race and averaged a pace of 8:09 per mile, with a final time of 40 minutes 46 seconds. My goal was 40:00, or 8:00 minute pace, meaning I did not achieve that goal. I gained numerous insights on how to better prepare and how to approach a race day, insights I will use in 2023. Lastly, I am now running for myself and my own motivations. I have passed the threshold of hatred for running and instead am beginning to crave my runs.

Diving off the deep end in August 2022 transformed my experience of how I view the sport of running. The biggest realization throughout this process is you are what you tell yourself. There is no amount of miles run, no average pace, that determines when you become a runner. You are a runner when you step outside and start moving, from there you grow and evolve. Get out and show yourself.

Moving into 2023 I have revamped my goals to be truly difficult and to require meticulous consistency. I plan on running 1,000 miles over the course of the year. I plan on signing up for and running a marathon. I want to be able to run 5 miles in 35 minutes at an “easy” feeling pace. All of these are stretch goals, but stretch goals are what I need. 2023 will be a bridge year for my running career so I can really explode in 2024. My running journey may have started in 2018, but I am just now entering chapter one.