Where It All Started

Running is the most natural sport there is. Everyone can run. Everyone does run. From the time we take our first steps, we fastly progress to running.

My love for running started when I was 13. I was in 8th grade. My sister wanted to run cross country, but she didn't want to do it alone. So, being the good little brother that I was, I stepped up and went to the first cross country practice with her. I've never stopped running since. Throughout high school, I went to running camp in the summers and ran cross country during the fall seasons. I don't think I truly loved to run back then like I do now. I liked it, but my love affair with running grew by leaps and bounds over the years. During college, I more or less continued to run just to stay in shape. I would run a race here and there, but not with any regularity. I continued this "routine" through my first years out of college.

Then, after a break-up...feelings of being "lost"...I decided to enter a race in my hometown. It was a small, fall festival race that I had ran in high school many times before. I was 24. I hadn't ran a 5k in years. Probably over 5 years. I was in good shape. I'd run on my own pretty much on a daily basis at this point. I finished 6th overall. First in my age group. A PR of 18:39! What?!?! Was this really happening? Had I just ran the best 5k of my life?! Yes. I had struggled to break 21 minutes in high school. WOW! This is where my true love for running started. Despite all the struggles I was going through in my life, I had managed to forget about it. To run.

From there, I entered a 10k later the next year and got another PR. 39:34! 1st in my age group again! With a 10k time of 39.34, I qualified for the sub-seeded group for the Peachtree Road Race - the largest 10k race in the nation right here in Atlanta. This is the 2nd group after the pros! I'd run the PRR before, but in the back...where you have to weed through literally thousands of people!

What now? A Half Marathon? Why not? I registered for my first half marathon on Thanksgiving Day of 2004. My goal was 1 hr 30 min. I finished in 1:29.16! OMG! I beat my goal! This is a feeling that only runners can understand and appreciate. 13.1 miles of running...to my goal...and I did it!

So, what was my next step? The full marathon the next year, of course! Boy was I naive! I didn't put in the mileage that I should have. During the Atlanta Marathon on Thanksgiving Day of 2005, I was on the pavement at mile 20 with leg cramps like you wouldn't believe. My thighs were spasming. I was in excruciating pain. But I was going to finish. With the help of the blessed volunteers, I got back up and walked/jogged the last 6.2 miles. I finished in 4:02:09. I didn't know what to expect and I wasn't prepared, but I finished. That was good enough for what I had gone through during the race.

Determined to get a better marathon time, I set out to train for next year... With a new goal in sight, I logged longer runs and trained for the marathon like one should. Race day...truth day...here's where the rubber meets the pavement.

Dun dun dun.

3:16:22! OMG! I ran a smarter race. Now, I'm only 6 minutes away from qualifying for Boston! Holy crap!

With qualifying for Boston on my brain, I registered for the inagural ING Marathon here in Atlanta in March of '07. It was a new course, winding through the quaint neighborhoods of Atlanta...and hilly! I finished with a time of 3:33:30...oh well. I felt that that was a good time for the course...for me.

Due to some problems (that I won't go into) that didn't allow me to run the Atlanta Marathon on Thanksgiving in '07 or the ING earlier this year, my sights are set on the Atlanta Marathon this coming Thanksgiving.

That's where I am. That's where my journey has brought me. I'm hoping to qualify for Boston this year. Boston or bust. Run with me while I try to obtain my new goal.