Rookie Of The Year.
The seed began to sprout in the winter of 2022. On a family vacation to Aruba with my wife and kids, I was up at the crack of dawn every morning clocking my 3-4 mile jogs, not having a clue what endurance training was going to be like nor what the running term ‘pace’ meant. We had a few vivid memories from that family trip in February of 2022. My then, three year old, Luca took over the hotel’s construction project of new pavers and my wife getting a free photoshoot of Luca and Nicolas (then 19 months) on the bobcat trying to operate it, chasing iguanas, a day trip across the island to baby beach, and a meltdown or two for the poolside crowds. My wife took every second of it in stride because of her amazing personality, while I trudged through and did my best to keep up, grabbing a balashi beer any chance I could! We even had the chance to spend some time with my Aunt, Uncle, and cousin. My aunt read a rosary prayer book to Luca on the beach until I had to claw him away to come back to the room with us. We sure hope that he keeps that enthusiasm for prayer!
This is running. Excitement, surprises, exhaustion, gratefulness, suffering, endurance, a mix of it all! Family vacations with little ones serve as an excellent mental test on how you’ll endure when your body wants to shut down on mile 15 and you still have more than 10 miles to go! Back home, my sister introduced me to the New York Road Runners and the 9+1 program to gain entry to the following year’s legendary NYC marathon. I continued to run short distances with the anticipation of long distances coming in the fall and beyond. I was holding back with that thought and learned a valuable lesson; jump into the water and get off the edges!
Spring came and I was decently conditioned for running distances between 5K (3 miles) and 10K (6 miles) runs. Staten Island Athletic Club, one of the most historic organized sports clubs in the United States, hosted a Memorial Day 5K run that my sister and I participated in. My brother hosted a family barbeque the day prior and I indulged in homemade wine and the delicious spread, taking the run pretty lightly. The morning came and so did the whole family with signs, love, and support. The run was in Brookfield Park (a great running course for starting out!) in a double loop course where I completely lost my whereabouts in the delusion of the heat and humidity that day. I finished the race panting and was under the impression that I did not complete the two loops. I jogged around one more time to complete the loop and went home for a Memorial Day BBQ at my mom’s. My sister called with excitement that I posted a time that won third place for my age category (then 32). I denied the claim and reached out to SIAC to inform them that I did not complete the course. They emailed me back a video and images showing me looping twice and completing the course and said to come get my trophy. What a mess of a start to running!
The year went on and I had high aspirations of finding a way to run in the NYC marathon that fall, although my qualifying runs made me eligible only for the 2023 marathon. I pursued running clubs, charity teams, and contacts in my network. I felt that since I had been running the entire year I was ready for a fall marathon and wanted it to be NYC. Maybe the best thing that happened to me in that first year of endurance running was not getting a chance to run in the NYC marathon. The speed paradox of moving slowly to move fast is true at its core. Another valuable lesson learned; ambition is temporary, what serves us better is endurance and I needed a lot of work to build that! My sister had the chance to volunteer for the marathon that year and she painted a vivid picture for me to keep my focus on getting there in 2023 with her!
The fall came and most of the elite 2022 marathoners were hanging it up for the rest of the year leaving it to us rookies to experience the Philadelphia marathon in mid-November. The day before, my wife, kids, and mom enjoyed some time at the Philadelphia Please Touch Museum, while my sister and I went to pick up our bibs. My wife again, handling everything like a professional and me breaking down with anxiety over the run coming up. We enjoyed a good pre-race meal of downtown Philadelphia and then a walk through the Christmas festival and a Ferris wheel ride with kids and family. I barely slept and race day came fast full of anxiety of running my first 26.2-mile run. There we were standing in our clear plastic bag covers and the host on the microphone gave us the inspirational words, ‘Remember runners, although it is windy and cold, at least it is dry’. That summed up the weather for the day we had to look forward to. That and avoiding the wall at 20 miles which was stuck in my head almost to a point where I forgot it was a the run was actually 26.2 miles. On the bright side of it, I sported my bright orange NY Met hat, replacing the missing sun right through the heart of Philadelphia and managed to get through the run with only one slur being yelled at me!
Sporting my bright yellow Achilles International shirt for the run, I gravitated towards the group running as Team Achilles. I took it as a sign to stick with them to help with my pacing and I’m glad I did. It took me almost a mile to realize that the group of 4-5 runners were huddling around a young man, Drew, running on his own two feet, with a mental disability. I later learned that we were right around the same age and our finishing times were not far apart. It was an inspiring experience. When his shoelaces got loose, the team would stop, and stand around him as one of them would tie them. It was moving to see that someone could have that kind of strength to run a marathon on that day with a condition like that. And there I was the day before, panicking over where we would have dinner. Remember to always zoom out when you think you have problems! One of the team members was his father and we talked a little about the day and running in general. It helped me tremendously and I’ll never forget the experience of running alongside Drew and his team. Today, I am an official runner and am raising donations for Team Achilles in the Chicago 2024 marathon because of it!
At miles 18-19, I started to go off into the cold tundra as the course came into a long riverside trek with no crowds, a tired body, gushing ice-cold winds, and an inexperienced runner’s mind. Things lightened up a bit around miles 21-22 when I ran through the small town of Manayunk where there were some entertaining on-viewers in town. Then it was back along the Delaware River for the final 4 miles. Such a small distance to go, and the hardest of my life with no boost of adrenaline other than the mental toughness and grit that marathon running requires! The final mile was the most fun. No matter what my body felt like, I knew that I would be running right into seeing my family, right near the finish line and that was a major mental boost. The journey was all worth it!
Lessons learned:
-The journey isn’t easy, no matter what we’re doing. Like my family trip to Aruba and my wife’s mentality, take your circumstances in stride and take in every single moment, even on camera! You’ll be thankful for it later like I was after seeing the camera shots from the Memorial Day 5K!
-When times are tough, zoom out and take a bird’s eye view. Other people are struggling more than you. We can all do hard things like Drew from Team Achilles proved on that grueling marathon day.
-People’s energy is more powerful than any supplement on the market! No road is too difficult with the right people around you. It’s lonely without them. Learn to collaborate. We need the help of people to push across our finish lines!
-Jump in! There’s a philosophy about decision-making that says ‘if it’s not a hell yes, it’s a no’. Don’t fret, jump in, or say no, and practice that so you don’t let opportunities blow right by you and you don’t waste your time. Our time here is finite!
