Growing up in Florida, running was not my sport. I was on my school’s track and cross-country team, but I did that mostly to stay in shape for soccer. I would sporadically run in college but was never training for a race. It wasn’t until I trained for my first marathon, during an engineering internship in Louisville, that I became a runner in my mind. Running a marathon was more of a bucket list check than anything else. I had never trained for a race by myself, and went into it a little unprepared. I set out for my first long run down Southern Parkway to Iroquois. This was before I had a GPS watch or even the forethought to try to map out a route. I was so enthralled with the beautiful scenery and exploring Iroquois that by the time I got back to my apartment, I had run 18 miles! A few months later, I was in the corral for the Derby Marathon, overwhelmed by the scenes of race day. I ended up finishing that marathon a lot faster than expected (3:07:30), being driven by the crowds lining the street cheering on complete strangers.
Once I moved to Louisville full time, I started to find and get involved more with the running community. Regularly doing the Triple Crown and other local races, I’ve gotten to know a lot of other runners and been encouraged to keep pushing myself to improve. Taking advice and hearing other people’s stories, I’ve been able to build my own training plans and improve my race times every year since.
I was able to qualify and run in the Boston Marathon in 2018 and found the Louisville running community all over again. It was great to see familiar faces throughout Boston in the days leading up to the race and before the race in Hopkinton. Finishing the Boston marathon in the pouring wind and rain, was one of the happiest moments of my life and has only stoked my running passion.
I was so excited about running, I got my then girlfriend into it as well. She also used to be a soccer player, but is now a runner! We got married last summer and I made sure to include a pre-wedding morning run with one of my groomsmen. Other than running, we love going to Louisville City soccer games and playing with our two cats, Joule and Purkinje (Unfortunately, the cats are not interested in running).
Last year, I got the opportunity to team up with some amazing runners to start the Swag’s Elite Team. It’s been awesome to be on a team again, cheering on and having friendly competitions with each other. With their support, I was able to win the Urban Bourbon Half Marathon last year with a new personal record of 1:14:55. A few weeks later, I got to see the Louisville running community once again in Indy for the Monumental Marathon. We had a large group of Louisville runners rolling at around 6:00 pace through the first half of the race. I ended up finishing in 2:39:38 for my second personal record of the training cycle.
I like to think Louisville and the people here have really made me a runner. So these last couple of weeks have been pretty tough. Sure I still can run. I can still tackle the hills near Turkey Run, see the deer jumping through the woods near Indian Hills, see the sunrise on the walking bridge, run by the farms in Anchorage. But what I really miss is the 6AM group runs from Seneca or lining up on Main Street with thousands of other runners for the Derby races. You never miss something until it’s gone, and Louisville runners, I’ve missed you.
So when this is all over, let’s go for a run.