A few missteps and stumbles, but not out of the race

About 8 years ago, encouraged by my fellow Pace Corps Volunteers, I discovered a talent that had eluded  me for nearly two decades, the ability to run. Growing up swimming, playing soccer, and shootin' hoops, I was no foreigner to sports and athletics, though running as a  means of exercise (or enjoyment) was never in the cards. My training for the Kampala Marathon in Uganda lasted all of one month with a gluttonous week of eating and drinking. A year later, in late 2009, I found myself choosing to wake up at 5:30am for regular 4-10 mile runs before teaching at my 7:30am Biology lectures. These regular runs for all intents and purposes were my conditioning runs motivating me to register for complete my first race ever, the 2012 Portland Marathon. Horrible shin splints aside and the realization that Nike Frees were not the shoes for me, I was happy to finish my first race ever with a time of 4:02:25--especially for never having been a runner.

The next few years I found a niche in trail running, in many thanks to my running partner Brendan Soulé. Working up to trail marathons, 50ks, and finally a 50-miler, often at elevation, I couldn't help but to wonder how I ever became an ultra runner. Well...my swimming coach in high school made me swim the 500 meter freestyle my sophomore year. I would energetically perform as my alma mater's school mascot, at times for more than 4 hours straight or in 100+ degree weather, sweating profusiouly, yet I rarely tired. Friends and family have made fun of me for years at my inclination to walk places as my ideal form of transportation-even if it means that I am walking 10 miles in relatively extreme temperatures. So, am I somehow preconditioned for endurance activities? Maybe, but that doesn't mean that I'm not without missteps and stumbles in fulfilling my potential.

2016 has been an incredibly tough year. Prior to moving to Minneapolis in August 2015, I felt on top of the world in regards to my running success. Hard work paid off and I became part of Team Nuun as an amateur athlete. I was and am incredibly proud of the amazing community of people and athletes that believe in and live Nuun, and proudly sport my Nuun kit at events (and training) so I can speak to its benefits. Being sponsored for a second year in a row as, to me, another sign of the hard work and attention my success had garnered. I discovered the power of Altra shoes, and how well my fit feet and my legs respond and heal after putting them through so much, which I do partially attribute to Altra Instinct 2.0s and Lone Peak 2.5s. PRs in the half marathon (Race for the Roses), 50k (Surf the Murph), and breaking out the Yak Traks for some icy, winters running, I was prepared for anything. So I thought. While I immersed myself in to some amazing running communities with Mill City Runnung and the Upper Midwest Trail Running Club here in Minneapolis, the demand of graduate school, changes in employment, months of international travel, and the overall impact of a major life transition curtailed my aspirations to build on my past success and toward a goal of prepping myself for a 100-miler. It took some time to come to terms with my slump, but upon that realization, and an unfortunate DNF in the 2016 Surf the Murph by choice (halfway through I felt as I should at the end), I knew I had to get back to the basics. Weeks went by when it was mentally exhausting to even get out for a 4-mile run. Now I feel anxious and stressed when I don't get out for that 4-mile run. I'm excited to be out there again; it's where I'm meant to be. Bring it 2017, I'm ready to f!$* sh%? up!

All that said, 2016 wasn't without its successes:

• As mentioned above, I have both been fortunate to within the Team Nuun community for a second year running, and have spread the Nuun love with so many strangers, friends, and family. Even the pantry of my girlfriend and her housemates is well-stocked and Nuun has become part of their daily, morning routines. Nuun has been a regular part of my daily diet and rehydration, with Nuun All Day each morning., and Nuun Active and Energy to keep me going through the day.
• PR in my road marathon time with a time of 3:34:35-nearly 30 minutes faster than my only other marathon time!
• Finished 3rd in age group and 5th overall in the 2016 Frozen Feet half marathon on ice/snow in Champlin, Minnesota.
• Completed 37 miles at the Icebox 480 endurance run in November 2016 in River Falls, Wisconsin. I was nowhere near the conditioning I expect myself to be at, but two weeks prior I DNFed at mile 22 of a 50k...this was also a race in which I stopped at 21 miles in 2015 due to knee pain.

I'm so excited for 1017! With friends, family, Altra, Nuun, and who knows what other little gem finds it's way in to my running heart this next year, I can already feel the confidence and motivation growing. With a 5k, 10k, half marathon, marathon, 50k, and a 12-person relay already on the schedule, the surface is only scratched with events to continue my growth in the running community. What is my big next step? 50-miler PR? Triathlon? 100-miler? I don't even know, but I'm so excited to continue being part of such an amazing community of people all striving to surpass their own potential.