Category: Philosophy

Why I love running – July 2019 Version

A lot of the reason I choose Team for Kids was I want to support running as a charity. Running has had a profound influence on my life. To name a few things I can trace my MBA, moving to NYC, meeting my wife, and a good part of my career success to being a runner.

I took up running as an adult shortly after getting my first post college job. I would say I was out of shape but I had never been in shape. But more accurately I was a little depressed, gaining weight and spending a lot of my time indoors.

Running was and still is a way to get outside, socialize, and think. In the early day I was a social runner, using running to meet new people. I also would run and use the time to think about my place in the world. Eventually running even took me somewhere… New York.

My first NYC Marathon in part helped me get into NYU Stern. I was wait-listed at Stern and decided to enter the lottery for the marathon. I was accepted into the 2003 NYC Marathon and finished in just under five hours. A few months later I was accepted into Stern and made my way to New York. Since that day in August of 2004 I have not left.

Later, in 2006 my future wife and I went to watch the NYC Marathon on our second date. It was on this date that we really connected. Our first date was much more casual, a meeting of two strangers at a restaurant in Manhattan. On this second date, two kindred spirits were watching thousands of people accomplish one of life’s great accomplishments, winning the NYC marathon.

As I’ve gotten older, I’ve come to appreciate what being able to return to running has brought me in terms of stability, friends, and mental health. When I’ve hit a point in my career where I struggled I’ve often I wish I had found running sooner then I did in my life.

Today, in 2019, running is giving me time to myself. Whether its before the rest of my family gets out of bed or on the way home from work my time running is my rare alone moments where I can do a little bit of what I once had a lot of time to do. This can be as simple as listening to music or a podcast or as complicated as trying to solve a big problem at work in my head.

Running has had such a profound effect on my life. As such, I’m raising money for Team for Kids so that the next generation might find running earlier in life.

Please donate to Team for Kids here.

I’m planning on running the NYC Marathon

2019 will be my 9th New York CIty Marathon and the first time I’ll run it for charity. Over the next few months, I need to pick a charity, start to fund raise, and start to train. I can’t wait as its one of the things I look forward to the most every year that I have an entry.

Why I’ve ran the NYC Marathon nine times is one of those things that deserves its own post. In the absence of having written it, suffice to say its been a part of a few of the most important moments in my life.

Picking a charity will be a challenge. They’re are literally hundreds of charities to choose from. Which one makes sense seems to be a compromise between what cause one wants to raise money for, how much money to raise, and side benefits the charity gets you for the rack.

In terms of a cause, I am fortunate to not have too many tragedies in my life. So picking becomes harder for me. As I suspect that if one had a personal tragedy to dedicate the race to one would simply pick that charity and dedicate the race to that charity. If someone close to me had a tragedy that I could easily connect to a charity I would proceed to raise money for the charity.

For what I’ve gathered, the New York Road Runner’s Official Charity, Team for Kids has the lowest minimum fundraising guarantee. However, it’s relatively close to the minimums other charities offer. Team for Kids is at $2620 + $100 for joining team for kids + the race registration fees. Other charities start at $3,000 and include the fees.

Likewise, some charities offer a training group/team. I already have one so this is of low interest for me. My only other charity marathon was to raise money for the American Cancer Society and I did not do a single training run with them. I did wear they’re ringlet and appreciated their cheers on the race course.

So stay tuned. I think I’ll figure out which charity to use in a few months.

Running on Vacation (With Kids)

As I write this post, I’m on vacation with my wife and two sons (Ages 6 and 2). I have not done any training on this vacation and currently don’t have plans to. Training on vacation, just like deciding to train at all is a bit of a very personal decision. It depends on what you want to get out of your vacation.

A few typical things that come to mind when I think about what people want to get out of a vacation include:

  • Rest: Crealy training is not rest. Rest is rest. Some people believe cross training is rest but its not. Trust me. Rest is also one of the things I most want to get out of a vacation.
  • Relaxation: For many of us, running is a way we relax, blow off steam, and process event that happen in our lives. I have always found running to be one of the few activities that consistently be counted on to help relax me.
  • New Experiences: Running is a great way to explore a new area. Seeing an area on foot is always superior to seeing it by most of other methods including by cycling, driving, flying, or train.
  • Spending Time with Loved Ones: Unless your loved ones are going with you this is the big negative with exercising while on vacation. On my current vacation, my wife has managed to go exercise while the rest of us were sleeping. Either first thing in the morning or during my two year old son’s nap.
  • Meeting New People: I value meeting new people quite a lot in life as well as well as with vacations. Going running on vacation may help facilitate meeting a few new people if you seek out a local running club. I’ve met quite a few traveling runners through my local running club and met a few others through my friends.

At the end of the day, spending time with my loves ones is what I want to get out of my vacations the most. With kids that go to sleep at 8pm and wake up at 7am, most days I see my kids for 3 hours tops. Vacation lets us spend an entire week together which hopefully helps mold who they are a bit more than I can do on a typical workday.

If I find time to do any training this vacation it will be while the family is occupied. Most likely this is during some sort of rest period. My wife tends to get first dibs in these rest periods as she’s said it’s really important to her to find the time to work out. For me, its of secondary importance.

Whether or not you run on your vacation is your decision. I fully support you in it. I think this is one of those you can do no wrong decisions. As they’re are benefits both ways. The most important thing is probably to go on vacation. Which is something we call could use more of.

What is a Master Runner

A definition to work off of as we begin our journey

I remember the first time I heard the term Master Runner. I was at a NYRR race in Central Park in my early 30s and chating with one of the more competitive runners from my team, the North Brooklyn Runners.

My teammate had a goal to place for the Masters Team. Naturally, I asked what was the Master Team? He answered, “Well its not really its own team, the top runners over 40 are in an additional competition for club points.”

To that, I respond oh so its a compeitive thing. What I didn’t understand at the time is that running over 40 by itself is a competitive thing. As one ages it becomes harder and harder to keep going.

  • Injuries take longer to recover from. When I was young, a good nights sleep and a hearty meal was all I needed to recover from a workout. Today
  • Life gets increasingly busy. Work, Family, Responsibility. All of these things compete for time that could be spend getting some miles in. Weekends racing begin to be thought of in terms of how does this impact not just you but one’s family too.
  • The effects of aging hit you. Your metabolism slows. You lose muscle mass.

Just because things are hard doesn’t mean they’re worth doing. Running has brought me so much in my life. Keeping running in my life fulfills me in ways that I tend to only understand with hind-site. To me a master runner is:

  • Someone over 40 (technical definition)
  • Someone who is serious about running. Serious means trying to get better at. This doesn’t mean that you’re trying to set new records, win races, or other goals. Just means you have a plan and work at it.
  • Someone who accomplishes goals. Being serious isn’t quite enough unless you’re getting there. Goals are important.

As I start this site. I’m hoping to help inspire and educate others who are on the journey of the life of a runner with me. Wish me luck.