HOW I BECAME A RUNNER

Large and in charge Thomas, circa September 2010.

It seems like just about every running blog has the obligatory "how I become a runner" post so I figured I'd write mine. I'll try to keep it from becoming a novel because my story isn't that interesting or unique!

Running was something I never thought I would take very seriously. I always hated running and never thought I would ever become a runner. If I did run, it was during some attempt to get into better shape and lose weight. I didn't really know of all the races and fun things available at that time, but I doubt that would have changed my mind. I was one of those people that would look at people running and think they were crazy.

I did run a little bit towards the end of high school and early college when I was back at my parent's house on summer break. This consisted of laps around my neighborhood after 11:30pm. I don't know why I ran at night... this was during the summer and I was waking up late, so that probably figured into it. Plus, I didn't want to get my parents' hopes up about getting all into shape or anything. Each lap was .35 miles and I started out running 5 laps (1.75 miles). Then I increased it to six, then seven, and I think I finished at eight (2.8 miles). Eventually I stopped running because, well, it sucked! I doubt my pace on these was ever under ten minute miles.

My gateway drug.

In college I lost about twenty pounds by watching what I ate and running one mile in the indoor student gym and then doing the stationary bike for 20 minutes. I don't really count that though, it was just a mile and I only did that for a couple months at the most.

I then graduated, moved home, and got a shitty job. I couldn't afford to move out of my parents' house and my mom's cooking sure was good. I got pretty large, my peak weight was 215 pounds. Yikes! During this time at home I had spurts of running where I would run after work for a couple of weeks at a time. It would never last much longer than that because well, it sucked! I actually ran during the day though and had some nice two and three mile loops from the house.

The crazy part about this story is that I lost 50 pounds without running a lick! Around November 2010 me and my friend Libbie decided to work out together and try to lose weight. Well being accountable to each other really helped out and we stuck to a pretty good routine. I fell in love with the elliptical machine... all the benefits of running without the pounding on your legs and being outside in the weather. I HATE treadmills and could never have lost weight on one of those.

Anyways, five to six months of careful eating and 30 minute elliptical workouts five times a week and Thomas was down fifty pounds to 165. I then went to work on maintaining that weight loss. And during that period I would get fed up because the elliptical seemingly got more popular at my apartment complex workout center and it was becoming a chore to find it even free. So I would get fed up, say "fuck it," and just go on a run. It sucked, but I needed to exercise and I wasn't going to wait around for the machine.

Runner Thomas. Chubby Thomas would
have LOLed at this picture. That couldn't
be me?!?!

So I got used to running once in a while when I couldn't get on the elliptical. It sucked, my body and lungs would scream, but I'd do it. Eventually Libbie signed us up for a 5k, I was in decent enough shape where training for that wasn't a huge deal. Well, I did a race, enjoyed it, and wanted to do another. And then it just kind of spiraled from there!

Once you are in good enough shape to run a 5k, you actually start to not hate running so much. I still don't really like it, but when I am running now I'm not thinking "this sucks, why am I doing this?" the whole time. There are even some runs where I actually have a decent time. I love to race and challenge myself though and I've met some good friends through my running group. So running is here to stay and I am happy about that. I like the routine and the feeling of accomplishment. Plus, there is always the next race or event to train for so you just keep kind of chugging along.

So my story really isn't that unique or interesting. Started and stopped running a couple of times, got kind of tubby, lost weight on an elliptical, got in decent enough shape to where running a 5k didn't suck, liked competing in races, got to the point where running wasn't the devil, the end. :)