October 5th marks my 7th year anniversary of starting to run. To celebrate, I’ll slowly write about my trajectory into long distance running. From someone who couldn’t run a mile to someone who would attempt some of the hardest ultra marathons in the world.
Year One October 2012 - September 2013
I tried multiple times to get into running via treadmill beforehand but it never stuck. It was too hard. I think I always liked the idea of running but I was struggling doing 2 miles in 30 minutes on the treadmill. Then, on my sister’s birthday I decided that jogging the 2 mile stretch of the Vanderbilt parkway in Alley Pond park and back (totaling 4 miles) without stopping would be a good sign of fitness. I couldn’t run a mile at that point without stopping so I started off doing a half mile - then walking a quarter mile - intervals till I reach 4 miles.
October 2012
I start off run-walking 4 miles but I reach my goal in a week (at a pace slower than 12 minutes a mile). I decided to continue along the greenway to see where it goes and got to 6 miles. For the most part, I stuck to 4 miles 3x a week.
March 2013
I learn that a half marathon is 13.1 miles. It seems doable. A distance worth paying for...why would I pay for a 5k or 10k? I could already do those distances.
April 2013
I find the cheapest half marathon I could - Suffolk County Half marathon. For $25, there was only gun time and a cotton shirt (which surprised me - never expected to get a t-shirt). I did my second longest run - 9 miles two days before the half which was a good confidence booster. I ran the half carrying a ziplock bag of white sugar, which I attempted to eat at mile 8 (a good chunk of it missed and went over my beard). I ran two 5ks shortly after but more so because friends were doing it.
May 2013
I do the LIC half marathon because I thought a friend would do it (he ended up not being able to go). My first big race, I found out that you can’t just drive to race site 15 minutes before the start and that there are big lines for porter potties. This time I used a gel and broke 2:10, 7ish minute improvement from just a month ago.
A few of my dragon boat friends were doing the Disney World marathon and invited me to join. Kelvin tells me that he is doing the Goofy challenge - a half marathon on Saturday and a full marathon on Sunday. He says he will take the half easy and it sounds doable to so I signed up as well.
June 2013
I do my second hike. Where the 4 mile bear mountain hike wiped me out on Labor Day 2012, I was easily able to complete this 6 mile hike in Harriman. This showed me my improved fitness and from here, I started hiking frequently as my love for being outdoors grows. Like running however, I didn’t have any mentors and the road to knowing what I was doing in hiking was fairly long, full of lots of mistakes but that’s a different story.
September 2013
I finish the Yonkers half marathon, my third half and talking to an officer afterwards, I declare that marathoners are crazy. I also bought my first running shoes. I been using nike trainers - designed to be gym training shoes as running shoes. I got Brooks pureflow and went up a size to size 14 upon the recommendations of the salesperson.
Reflection:
I started running alone. With no school team sport experience, running friends or running club/team, I didn’t have any expectations of what running should look like. Running gave me a space to think and meditate on the current events of my life. I was content with my 11-12 minute miles and had no desire to run faster, no desire to do races. Running helped me mentally feel better, it was not a means to test myself. With my background in archery and dragon boat - I knew how important form was. Looking at google for running form in 2013 and you would see the minimalist movement and born to run come up so that’s the way I leaned towards. I started recording my runs on map my run a week into starting so I have a good record of these early times (which to be honest surprises me - to see how dedicated I was right away).
Year Two October 2013 to September 2014
December 2013
I buy my first garmin watch. I do my first 15 mile run with the help of my Disney marathon friends. This will be the longest run going into the marathon. I get a bike and start riding after 14 or so years. I pick up my balance in cycling almost immediately and do a few 20 mile rides.
January 2014
Goofy challenge - I walk miles 7 to 10 of the half marathon but can’t help myself and run the last 5k hard. I get sore from the half marathon and despite my attempts to stretch, I go into the full marathon with sore legs. With 3 songs in my playlist, I run with music for the first time and achieve what I wanted - I ran the marathon without stopping (4:53) and did not get passed by Debby (she did run faster than me but she started in the last corral due to not giving the race a half marathon time when registering while I was up ahead). I slowed down around mile 20 and felt pain in my knee for the first time. Upon finishing the marathon, I was put into a wheelchair and pushed into the medical tent. I made sure to requested my two medals (one for finishing the marathon, the other for finishing the Goofy challenge). With some fluids and a pain killer I started my crawl to my friends. The next quarter mile would take an hour to walk, with every volunteer in sight asking if I was okay. I would not be able to walk normally for two days. I got also injured me - IT band and I was not able to run for a few months.
April 2014
TD bike tour! Also my return to running.
May 2014
I do the Brooklyn half and get a major PR, getting close to the 2 hour mark. Cathy asks if I’m considering doing another marathon this year, to which I wasn’t but “Oh...it sounds interesting. why not? I'm going to sign up for it!” and thus I was in for the wineglass marathon.
June 2014
I do my first trail race which happens to be my first ultra. I thought it was weird to see people stop at aid stations and walk on the uphills. I charged up them. My quads blew up by mile 20 and the older folks were passing me by the marathon mark. For the first time, I was worried about not being able to make the time cut offs and DNFing but made it after 8+ hours. The next week I would attempt the Devil’s Path. Not understanding the concept of recovery, my quads blew up and I had to bail out at mile 16. My friend Greg had to do the road walk to the car and come rescue me while I sat on the side of the road - trying not to fall gently into the good night.
September 2014
After two months of focusing more on hiking, my monthly mileage slows gets to 100 miles a month, I have a marathon to run! My longest run towards my second marathon will be 10 miles but no worries, I ran the distance before. Think I could still do a massive PR. I mean, this time I don’t have a half marathon the day before...should be easy.
Reflections:
Year two had me starting to challenge myself in running. However I never looked at any training plan. The idea of looking up how to run a certain distance was still foreign to me. I just ran what sounded logical. I was quite ignorant of my abilities, of recovery and I was learning everything the hard way. I just knew that when I got injured I wanted to get back into running - the thought of not running didn’t occur to me.
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