My First Race and What Followed

My First Race and What Followed

Growing up the oldest of six in Bullitt County, Kentucky, basketball was the primary sport of interest. I was never the tallest, nor the best, on my team, but I thought that playing ball was where I would find success in life. In the sixth grade, I had a friend who invited me to run a 5k with him and his dad. My immediate response was, "What is a 5k?" I had never heard of such a thing, nor the sport of cross country (which I took to mean literally as running across the country). Innocently, I agreed to run the race with him. It was about three days prior to the race, so I figured I should buy some running shoes and research how to train for a "5k".

I vividly remember going to Hibbett Sports to buy my first pair of running shoes: the cheapest pair of lightweight Nikes the store had to offer. That day, I went out and did what I thought was a few miles. In reality, it was probably only a maximum of 1 mile. Long story short, I took the next two days off to rest for the race, per my friend's request.

The morning of race day, I indulged on some Cinnamon Toast Crunch and a banana and Gatorade. Walking up to the starting line was very odd for me; I had never realized that so many people gather together to run. I have to add that this race had a max of 200 people (I might be overestimating). I thought this was huge! Anyways, standing at the line, I remember asking how far the race was because I honestly had no idea. Actually, I do not remember ever getting an answer.

All of a sudden, I heard dozens of "beeps" from what I now know to have been watches. Then, a loud air horn went off and everyone started moving forward...so I did too. My running career had begun and I didn't even know it. I stayed with my friend for quite a while, navigating through the crowds down a narrow street. After just a few minutes, I was told to go on because he was feeling sick. I felt really awkward - "go on?" I hesitated for a bit, but eventually took off in a sprint because there were people ahead of me. Knowing that this was a "race", I assumed that the goal was to finish as fast as possible.

It was an out and back race on a beautiful spring morning, so running back, passing people still running out, was a real motivator. Cheers fueled me on to run as hard as possible to the finish line that I hoped was just around the next turn. At the finish, I realized I had placed very well in a time of 24 minutes. I thought this was some kind of record. I took home a 2nd place age group trophy which sits on my dresser today.

A few weeks later, I ran a 5k in downtown Louisville where I ran a 21 minute in the pouring rain. This is when I realized that running was my talent.

The following months, I took off from running because I didn't know that training was important. I went out for the school track team and had an amazing first season, running a 6:08 mile as a sixth grader. The next year, I started cross country and had some success at our small meets. I won my first two races and placed second in the final race (that was a full season). The next summer, I had the opportunity to run the national race in the ESPN World Wide Sports Park in Orlando, FL. This was a super cool experience and a major event that spurred my love for running.

Running in high school is when things got interesting. Before my freshman year, I had taken about 5 months off because of an IT Band injury. It really could have only been a few weeks off, but again, I was a clueless 4'10" kid who really didn't know how to run. So, needless to say, the beginning of cross country season with a high school training plan was brutal. However, I got back into the swing of things and worked my way down to an 18:49 5k. I was stoked! At this point, I legitimately thought that the Olympics were in my future.

Nothing really significant happened that track season, nor the next cross season. My new PR by the end of sophomore year was 17:54, so that was a plus. This year also marked the beginning of my attention to diet. I [stupidly] adopted a "low low low fat" diet because I thought that having no fat meant the ability to run faster. I quickly changed this after feeling a bit fatigued...every day. I had to sit out that track season with some vicious shin splints that put me out for three months. Again, it probably could have been a much shorter recovery period, but this time because I ran while injured for far too long. Thus, junior year brought no success in cross country. Track season, however was a different story. After a few meets of running the mile in low 5 minutes, I finally broke into the 4 minute world. My dad made a deal with me (while I was still running in the 5's of course) that if I broke 4:45, he would buy me a Mini Cooper, my dream car at the time. By the end of the season, I had run a 4:46...

Time passed and it came to my final cross country season in high school. I had concluded that I did not want to run in college because I didn't think I was fast enough - this was, and is still, true. I was the only senior on the team with the next three fastest runners being freshmen (two of which were my twin brothers who both crushed my freshman times). It was a rough season to be honest, until about 5 races left to go. Something just clicked, mentally and physically, and I was able to run much faster, both at practice and in races. With only one race until regionals, I ran a 16:41 5k, smashing my PR, breaking the school record, and just beating out the county record of 16:42. After this race, I remember my dad suggesting I reconsider running in college. I did reconsider it for a bit. I qualified for state and ran pretty well against a very competitive field, but I knew that this was my final cross country race. In fact, I decided that it would be my final race at my school in general.

Backing up a little, I have never been a fan of running fast. Yes, it was a goal, but to be honest, I dreaded "speed days" at practice. I always got excited, however, about the distance runs. My weekly mileage never really surpassed 35 or 40 miles, but I always wanted to do more.

This desire has brought me to where I am now. As of March 2016, I am an aspiring ultra marathon runner. I don't really know if I can officially call myself this yet because my farthest race so far is only 15 miles, but I plan on running some of the world's toughest races in the coming years. I have read a few books about running and follow closely to the advice put out by runners such as Sage Canaday and Scott Jurek, as well as the training plans that many pro runners utilize. The biggest change to my training, besides the mileage, is that I now wear Hokas. These shoes have changed my stride for the better and have eliminated all running injuries that have held me back. I don't know how I could wear another shoe. I now run the trails pretty often, but dream of a day when the mountains are my training grounds.

If you read all of this, I applaud you. I promise, everything from here on out will be more exciting. With a newfound love for hiking and the outdoors, I will share my adventure stories and updates on training and racing as often as possible. Thanks!

Here's to the miles ahead!