I start 'unrunning' today.

Background:

I'm 5'8", 23, married, male and skinny which i'd like to think my readers already assumed being that i'm a runner (an "unrunner" i suppose). Maybe not. I also have a big family of nine brothers and sisters and ten nephews and nieces. I'm the second youngest at 23 years old .

I guess my first experience with running was in elementary school doing the mile for P.E. class or the Presidential Fitness Test. I didn't really care about what time I got because all I really wanted was to beat this other kid named Shawn. That was in fourth grade and, sadly, I never had a chance to beat him because he would miss the mile my last year of attending Adams Elementary (I transferred to another elementary) but I did manage a 6:28 to get the school record! (Pretty awesome for being 4'6" and maybe 80lbs)

 I began "organized" running my 8th grade year of middle school when I reluctantly joined track & field. It went well with a top finish at all-league and a personal record (PR) of 5:22 (i think?). Oh, and I beat Shawn in a kick.

This brings me to high school. The freshman class that Central Valley received was astonishing. We had plenty of hungry studs including myself. One of the first statements I remember uttered out of my coaches mouth was "You guys (freshman) will be state champions." and it turns out he was almost right, my junior we took third to the number one and two teams in the nation and senior year we took fourth to three of the top 20 teams in the country. I was our number six and five man, respectively. Due to some ridiculous girlfriend problems I let my Junior and Senior years slip by, regretfully. Regardless I left high school with PRs of 16:26 for 5k, 4:37 for the 1600m (yes, 1600m, not the mile, 1609m), 9:57 for the 3200m and 2:04.6 for the 800m (pretty epic race, might end up reminiscing in a later post).

The summer after my senior year I had been debating on going to my local community college, Spokane Community College, mainly due to bigger schools being more costly and me not being smart enough or fast enough for them. However it was absolutely decided when my Dad passed away just one month before CC (community college) classes began. My Mom supported me but didn't understand why I ran. My Dad completely got it as he was an endurance athlete himself, cycling. I was the man of the house with only my Mom and little brother who, at the time, was only eight years old.

So I signed up for classes, trained hard in the summer and before I knew it I was starting my college running career. I toed the line for my first race in Oregon and it went....semi-okay. 27:59 for 8k (5 miles). Okay, it was bad. After a tough freshman year of beginning college and still coming to terms with losing my Dad I was dissapointed. After outdoor track had ended in 2009 I sat down with my coach(es) and explained to them my goals and what I could do to capture them. Their answer was simple enough, "train", hard. Later that year they would also use the phrase "buy into the program (running), become a student of your sport." which definitely sunk deep into my psyche. So I trained, logged mile after mile in a spiral notebook, in my phone, basically wherever I could store it. And I would end up achieving my goal of breaking 26:00 for 8k with a 25:56. I was ecstatic! Track followed in a similar manner although I struggled through some calf injury the whole season.

On my coaches recommendation, an alumni of the university, I ended up moving 1,000 miles south of my hometown and attending school at Southern Utah University. I decided to go as a walk on for the team. I only ever talked to the assistant coach, once. I was nervous and excited and worried about meeting this illustrious head coach they had. Fortunately my worries melted away when I finally had the chance to talk to him, I was met with a friendly joke and smile and enthusiasm. This guy loves running was my first thought. The team followed a similar manner, friendly, goofy and fun. So again I trained hard (harder then the year before) with hopes to keep up with this new Division I team.

My first year was a redshirt year and me injured twice. Maybe because of mileage, maybe shoes, or altitude i don't know but that can be discussed on letsrun. My Junior (2011/2012 seasons) year I was excited, again I put in loads of miles (like 90+/week average for the summer), I was finally shirted up and thought this will be it! Sadly, it wasn't. I woke up one morning and could barely walk because my lower back was so in pain (apparently a 'muscle spasm', I still disagree). A month later and the majority of a cross country season gone I was back to square one. I would spend the next two months trying to regain fitness only to lose it again and again to injury. Foot injury in January 2012, stress fracture on my tibia in March 2012, foot injury again at the beginning of September 2012, knee injury few weeks after that. Each one requiring one to four weeks off.

This brings me to the last few weeks where I lost my cross country eligibility due to my school "figuring out a way to translate quarters into semester credits" and thus causing me to lose something like 12 general education credits two years after I first attended school at SUU. With all my injuries and time missed and falling behind in a forced major (NCAA crap, I WILL go into extreme detail in a later post) I was barely keeping up with the back end of our team. So I've made the decision to finally just call it quits. I talked to my coach who was on the same page as me regarding my running career at SUU. We ended it on good terms and my wife is still on the team so I will definitely still be involved.

That's the summary,
wish I could of made it shorter.