I started running consistently when I moved across the country. I used it as the anchoring point to start every day and a way to explore my new home on the weekends, the runs getting gradually longer as I meandered my way around town. After some years of road running and meeting more folks, I started to get curious about trail running. I still remember going on my first trail run on one of the well-traveled trails in the Peninsula and laughing to myself at every false summit in disbelief that there was even more uphill. I ran my first 50k the following year. Over the next few years I raced often, a mix of road and trail, and eventually ran myself into a dilemma.
I had signed up for my first 50 miler and training was going badly. I felt like I was plateauing and I was tired all the time. That’s just how ultrarunning feels, I told myself as I slogged around every morning. I was also telling myself that running was “just for fun” and I “didn’t really care”. That was the other problem: I wasn’t being honest with myself that actually I did care, and I did want to succeed and improve. After a lot of internal debate on whether I was “good enough” to have a coach I reached out to one, and 9 years later my only regret is not doing it sooner. With my coach’s help training improved and I ran a fairly successful 50 miler followed by the NYC marathon a few weeks later (I may have over-committed that year).
Since then, I’ve been pretty proud of what I’ve been able to accomplish. I’ve raced many 50ks, tested myself with four 100ks (so far), and even allowed myself to care enough to try to win a few local sub-ultra distances (with some success)! My running has only gotten better*, even as I’ve gotten older, and the endurance running training has been a phenomenal bridge to getting into road/gravel cycling too.
*Mostly a subjective statement!
While working with student athletes I began to see how as adults we rarely say that we practice, reasoning somehow that practice is what kids do. We don’t have cross-country practice anymore, instead we just go for a run. But I think as adults it can be powerful to revisit the concept of practice and appreciate it for what it is: intentionally doing something repeatedly because it matters to us, we want to improve and understand that improvement isn’t always linear. Reframing running into a practice is a mental shift to a growth mindset where we believe that we can continue to develop as an athlete. My hope with The Running Practice is to rekindle that practice mentality by providing a structured training plan that fits into your schedule, accountability as a member of your team, and providing feedback that helps you achieve your goals.
I am a UESCA-certified running coach.
