I am a runner. I come from a running background. I'm also finding that I'm growing into being a decent triathlete, with goals of becoming a great triathlete.
Sports started for me at age 5. Since I am about to turn 31, this means that I've been participating in organized (and often unorganized) sports for nearly 26 years.
My first love was soccer. I played from ages five to seven and loved it, but I wanted to try other sports also. I played baseball and basketball in leagues, but I wasn't great at basketball. When I was about to go into high school I also figured out that the strength in my arm just wasn't keeping up with many of the other guys. This is when I discovered that I have always been a runner.
Being Competitive
Remembering back to when I was just a boy, as a second grader at seven years old we had P.E. most days of the week. My teacher made us complete a mile before we were allowed to play any games or do any other types of activities. Most people walked the mile or jogged a little. Some ran for a lap or two of the four. I wasn't that guy. Not only was I competitive, but walking a mile was boring. I wanted to go play. So, I ran my mile each day. Eventually I was the fastest kid in second grade with an 8:22 mile. I don't know how that really compared to anything in the world, but it was the start.
At the end of that year, we had field day competitions. I don't remember much of it except the 400yd "distance" race around a softball field. I decided to start from the very back of the group (all second graders ran it at the same time) because that's where my friends were. Well, I saw a kid at the front that I really wanted to beat. He was liked by the girl I liked. Haha! So, of course, I had to win to show that she should like me instead. The race started and I ran as hard as I could, passing kids left and right, all the way around that field. I was in second at the last turn and could see Neil (yes, I remember his name) in front of me. I sprinted as hard as I could and passed him at the last second. It was the thing that movies are made about. I won the race and beat my rival. The problem was that I didn't get the girl. Oh well, I discovered the love of competition!
Becoming a "Runner"
I kept running during school for the next several years, each school having different requirements. My times didn't really improve because I didn't really care about running at that point. I had too many other sports interests.
During the spring semester of eighth grade, I noticed several of my friends getting a ride somewhere after school with one of the teachers. Upon asking (I'm also a perpetually curious person), I was told that they were going to the high school to run track. We lived in a pretty rural area and didn't have track below the high school level, so we were allowed to run for the high school, kinda. Anyway, I asked my dad and was allowed to start going.
Now, keep in mind that I was a pretty short, scrawny kid with not much athletic talent (couldn't jump high or far, etc.). The coach talked to me and decided she would put me in a few events where we were lacking participants. So, I was put into things such as the 300 meter hurdles, 110 high hurdles (that cane up to my chest), high jump, long jump, tried triple jump but couldn't even get to the sand! I thought I was okay at these events until one track meet. I think there were only two or three schools visiting ours.
Not being a wealthy school, we still had an asphalt track. It had rained earlier in the day, and I was running the 110 high hurdles against a guy who looked like a gazelle. I heard that he placed in state the year before, so I was pumped to race against him, even if I was a little intimidated. Gun sounds and we take off. Just the two of us. As he starts pulling away over the second hurdle (looking like a deer!!), he slips on the wet track and falls! I pass him and regain my determination. I see the eighth hurdle disappear under me as I see him fly by me like I was a little kid. He beat me by over 10 meters after falling...in a 110 meter race!! I knew then that I was nether a sprinter, much less a hurdler.
I was introduced that summer to a friend's brother who had just earned a basketball scholarship to college. Wanting to play high school ball, I asked what was the best way to prepare. "Run cross country. You'll be in better shape than anyone, and that's most people's weakness on the court." So, I ran starting my freshman year of high school, and I was pretty good. I was consistently second or third on the whole team. Of course, there weren't a ton of people, and we definitely weren't a cross country powerhouse, but I was a freshman who had never really run more than a mile before that year. I remember my first 5k race was 24:55. I was proud of my place on the team, but I was really disappointed with my time, even though I had nothing with which to compare.
By the end of that year, I had dropped my time to 19:21. Nothing really impressive, but I fell in love with distance running. I loved it because you had to keep going, even when it hurt. You could win a race based on training and not just being naturally speedy. Also, My cross country coach, Greg Howard, was amazing. He always pushed us to be our best, but he was never negative toward us.
The next season in track I ran the 1600m, 3200m, and sometimes the 4x800m and hurdles still (what?!). It was a much better year. It was strange because I became the school's distance runner over that next few months. Over the next three years of high school I was the fastest on the team in cross country. I loved the 5k!
I moved during the summer before my junior year and went to a new school with a new coach. He really didn't care about cross country. Luckily, one of the dads helped us train when he could. My fastest time probably could've been better, but it still wasn't bad at 16:29. With that, I earned a partial scholarship to college.
Losing It
That's when I sustained a relatively mild injury, but it took me out of the right mindset to be attending school. I had an IT band injury that was very persistent. I ended up red-shirting right after I had solidified my spot in the team. It was a huge let down that I just was t emotionally ready to handle. I pretty much let my schooling and running turn into crap over the next couple of years. I had awful grades and lost my scholarship.
I was afraid to start running again, having these high hopes of being someone in the running world only to get injured again. After three years of bad grades and little running (lots of basketball though; I knew I could move in that way without my leg hurting), I quit school and joined the Navy. That's when I really started to get out of shape.
I had started running again before boot camp. I thought that it would be much more difficult than it was. Mostly we sat in a classroom setting. I gained 15 pounds in boot camp. Fifteen! And they weren't muscle! I continued barely running or doing much of anything active for my three years prior to ankle surgery and release from the remaining commitment. Upon moving home, I met a girl, we were married for a few years, and our lives were mostly sedentary. I was finishing my degree, and she just wasn't into running. We played a little soccer, but it's a completely different type of fitness.
Getting It Back and Becoming a "Triathlete"
That brings us to this past year. I had always wanted to do a triathlon to see what it was like. I mean, it couldn't be that much more difficult than running. Right? Wrong!
I really started getting interested after meeting several people in the Nashville area that compete and train in a normal basis. I bought a bike, got a coach, and started training again. The first thing my first coach did was ti have me run a 5k on my own as hard as I could...to see where my fitness was at the time. This was January 2013.
I was super disappointed with the 27 minutes and change. But, that was the starting point. I've had a couple of simple injuries that took a little time away from training (lower back issues that are improving as my fitness and core strength improve).
Besides my marriage ending during the past year, I also lost my job. It was a financial setback, but I didn't allow it to define me the way my previous injury did. I'm planning to return to school in pursuit of a career that is more suitable to me than software development. Something in the medical field, like Physical Therapy.
Also, I have big goals and dreams again concerning athletics. I believe that I have the ability to be one of the best triathletes, and I'm going to make that happen. It's taking time to get myself physically back to that point, but I know it is possible. This is going to be a log of the journey there and beyond. I'll post about thoughts and feelings, fun and difficult times, joy and pain, maybe some poetry, workouts and races, trips, and who knows what else. I hope you enjoy it and can be inspired along the way.
[I want to thank my friend Caitlin Standifer for some of the ideas going into this blog! She's an amazing athlete and great person. You can read her blog at intricait.wordpress.com]
Picture Time!!
Second grade field day!
Running hurdles as a freshman.
Pose method before anyone, including myself, knew what that meant.
After senior year high school cross country TN state meet.
What I'm now working with. Introducing...Capa (short for caipirinha)! :)
