Redefine Possibility Vol. 1 - May 2024 | Page 7

So this was 2003. We trained for a half marathon and our training was to run three days a week, about 10 or 15 miles a week. In the race I ran a sub two hour half marathon. As soon as I crossed the finish line, I was wondering how good I could be if I actually tried. It was the same mentality that made me a good basketball player, I just have to work hard and I can get better. 

So then the fledgling coach in me came out. I came home and I trained my sister for a half marathon. We would meet every day and run around the same route my mom used to run and I just kept building up my skill set and running more. 

Then I went to grad school in Pittsburgh and I started, in my mind, training for a theoretical marathon. I ended up running my first marathon in 2005. And it was so hard. I was so under-trained with my little plan that I had it handwritten on a piece of paper on my wall. 

I was also 21 living in London. So it's not like there was a shortage of whiskey in my life, I mean, I ran 3:32 in my first marathon. And somebody told me, you qualified for Boston. 

I didn't even know what that meant. Because I was self-directed, I was reading all these books and I'd read Runner's World during the Dean Karnazes era.

So I read Dean's book and I still can find this little thing, my list of goals, which was, I want to do the Badwater Ultramarathon,

which I don't. It is not on my list, but Western States, the way he talked about ultra running, I thought to myself, “I'd be good at that.” 

So I kept running marathons. I ran another marathon, four months later and ran 3:22, I ran another marathon, six months later, I ran 3:08. And when I ran that 3:08, I was thinking, what happens when I stop getting faster, right? I'm clearly talented enough, I'm good enough, I think I came in second in that race or something. But I was under no delusion that I was gonna go to the Olympics in the marathon.