My Running Journey

Second Half Marathon 2017

In high school, I wanted to join a sports team, I was told it would look "good" when applying to colleges so I decided to give it a shot. Everyone suggested volleyball since my friends were into it, and it didn't require intense conditioning, which suited me as I had been sick from grades 5 to 8 (you can read about that in my previous blog post). The summer before volleyball pre-season, at the age of 16, I was working full-time for my township. After work, I asked my mom to drive me to the track so I could run a mile every day, I wanted to make sure I had some conditioning and wouldn't die during volleyball pre-season.

I remember my first mile taking between 12 to 13 minutes. After a month, I excitedly exclaimed to my mom, "Mom, I got my mile time down to 9 minutes!" That's when I truly grasped the power of consistency and determination in achieving results. From that point on, I didn't stop; I kept pushing myself. Gradually, as I became more comfortable running 1 mile, I added another half-mile. Before I knew it, I was running 3 miles daily.

One of my close high school friends joined me, and together we formed a routine. Fast forward to the subsequent summer, armed with a driver's license and a car, we met at the track every day after work, bringing along our speaker and volleyball. We'd run and then spend hours playing volleyball. Eventually, our daily mileage increased to 5 miles. Over time, I gradually added more distance, eventually reaching 8 miles a day. To me, it felt like a natural progression, achieved through years of dedicated training. However, to outsiders, it might sound crazy (and I have come to accept that it is).

In 2016/2017, I found myself running at the Henderson track. By this point, I had only participated in one or two 5k races. After one of my runs, a track coach named Kevin Kelly approached me and asked me what workout I was doing. I probably looked bewildered because I had no clue what he meant. I simply replied that I was just running around the track. Kevin then invited me to join a group of runners for track workouts at 5:50 am on Tuesdays. The following Tuesday, I showed up, not knowing anyone. Kevin explained the workout, mentioning something about XXX meters and jog recovery, which sounded like a foreign language to me. I hung back and followed everyone else's lead. Some of the runners introduced themselves, realizing I was new, and helped explain the workout. Later, I discovered there was a website where I could preview the workout beforehand.

Marine Corp Marathon 2023

I began to Google running terminologies and gradually got the hang of it. I kept showing up and more people spoke to me, and eventually, I felt like part of the group. Kevin not only posted the workouts on the blog but also provided valuable advice. One piece of advice that resonated with me was the importance of training and racing to establish a baseline. This inspired me to run my first half marathon in 2016, which happened to be one of the hilliest races. Fast forward to 2024, and I've completed over 13 half marathons and 4 full marathons.

This is my running journey—I fell in love not only with running itself but also with the mental challenges it presents. Running has shown me that I can overcome any obstacle, no matter how daunting. It has instilled in me the mental toughness to tackle any challenge that comes my way. Thank you, running; I love you.