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Photo by Tania Franco |
I finally did it. It was one of those things that has been somewhere in my mind but always ended up in the back-burner with the stove turned
off. You probably know the feeling. But this summer I ran the San Diego Rock & Roll Half Marathon in 1:51:54.
I started to run again only in the last two years or so. Mind
you, I wasn’t the epitome of consistency by any standards, but it was a new
beginning. See, I always led an active and athletic life. I played organized
soccer in high school, and local clubs. Then I suffered a pretty severe knee
injury when I was 19. I recovered from it and managed to play college soccer and
at different division one clubs up until I turned 29 or so, then I stopped.
After this period of inactivity, I lost a good degree of strength
in my legs and when I wanted to come back, I couldn’t play anymore because of knee issues.
I was a bit bummed for a while, and pretty much gave up for a couple of years. I gained a few extra pounds and I wasn't being disciplined with the gym. One day I saw myself in the mirror and the man in front of me wasn't who I wanted to be. So I went back out there with renewed energy and determined to be the best version of myself from then on.
Last year I logged quite a few miles, and it was picking
up towards the end of the year. I also went to the gym more regularly. Then the winter came along and 2013
started off a bit slow as I didn’t run or exercise as much during the cold days.
But in
March I decided to make a comeback and set a goal to run 600 miles before the
end of the year. I have completed 150 so far. The truth is that
setting goals may not exactly be “Zen,” but it is something that motivates me
presently, and it serves as an indicator of the physical progress I make.
I knew the San Diego Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon was in the summer, and I
had mentioned to Tania that I was interested in participating. Incidentally, I
had said this before about other things and nothing happened. I think I could
have easily come up with an excuse and just plan to run it “next year.”
But then along came Manny.
He is a co-worker and friend. I knew he was running
regularly and one day he just showed up and told me that he had signed up to
run the San Diego City Half Marathon. Just like that. We talked about his
training as the date was approaching and the excitement creeping in. He would
tell me about his splits and increasing his running distance closer to the 13.1mile mark. I was genuinely excited for him, and I started to look at my regular
runs differently.
Back then I was running 3 miles at a time, tops. When I saw
him the day of the race at the 10 mile mark after a killer climb, I knew that I
had to do it. It was inspiring to see hundreds of runners from all kinds of
walks making a tremendous effort to accomplish something, but more about this
later. We got together for a couple of beers to talk about the race, and he was
kind enough to share his experience with me. That evening we agreed to run the 2013
Rock ‘n’ Roll Half Marathon, and after that day I started training with that
objective in mind.
congratulations... :D
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