when i moved to Illinois(as a 6th grader) i had no plans to run whatsoever. the summer after 8th grade my best friend's mother suggested that the two of us join the cross country team and, since i was still considering West Point at the time, it seemed like a solid enough idea. i hadnt run for the sake of running since grade school when i ran cross country(1 mile races i think), but i have always admired the relentless effort involved in any endurance sport, even when i was very young.
i still remember the first day of practice, a few weeks before school started. it was hot, Illinois-hot, like 90 degrees and 75% humidity or worse. and the workout was an 'easy distance' run: a five miler on the country roads near Oswego East High School (ive since run the route about a billions times and i no know that its barely over 4 miles). as the run started, i stuck with the upperclassmen (the school was too new to have a senior class, but we atleast had juniors) on the way out. its not that i was intentionally trying to prove anything, i just felt like if they could do it then so could i -trained or not.
the run itself was fine, except the fact that i felt like we were running into the middle of nowhere. "if the older guys leave me i probly wont make it back to the school and ill have to spend a few days in middle-of-nowhere Illinois with the corn."
while i wasnt the first person back, and while i definitely didnt want any more miles for the day, the seed was planted: the glow of satisfaction i had knowing that i had done a "real distance run" of 5 miles (ignore the fact that it was closer to 4 -i didnt know so i still felt good!) was something that made me excited to get back a few days later to get back at it.
so many new feelings, and i loved it. something just clicked that day, but that was only the first step.
during the next two years, learned that not only can i run pretty much indefinitely, but i noticed that i could actually push hard that just a jog -i found my gears. i began to love, not just survive, 400 meter and hill repeats. the pure effort and soul of distance running got me looking deeper and deeper into myself to try to figure out what was slowing me down, why couldnt i just sprint forever? what stopped me? what was i afraid of?
on a spiritual level, i felt it was impossible to answer those questions for sure, but if i could learn what my body was going through, then i could atleast understand on a physiological level, whats holding me back. and hopefully over time, i could apply what i learn to break out and train my body to run effortlessly forever.
from that pursuit (involving 50 or more books about runners, physiology, biology, and psychology's effect on the body), i also found my career calling. i realised that one of the best things about running is setting and achieving goals. doing something today that was "impossible" a few months ago is one of the best feelings in the world. what if i could get that feeling for other people? how great would it be to help someone else achieve something thats "impossible" for them? -after high school i went to the National Personal Training Institute(NPTI) in Lisle, Illinois to get certified to become a personal trainer.
during the time between fall sophomore year and the start of my junior year i found out how far i could go. i did my first (measured)8 mile run, then my first 10 miler, then my first half-marathon-distance(13.1) run, then on a random tuesday in the summer i did 15. i realised that while people might be faster than me genetically(more type I muscle fibers, higher VO2 max, etc), i could probly outlast anyone if we went long enough.
by senior year i had found out that there were other people that thought like me: ultra runners. it had never occurred to me that people would/could do just what i wanted to do. -there were people out there that ran for hundreds of miles and for more than 24 hours at a time. and in november 2009 i met one that helped me develop not only my training program, but who i am as a runner and a person.
...more in a few days, along with some pictures of my new training grounds...
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