Run, Danny, Run

In addition to being a mathematician, football enthusiast, and all around great guy, I would also consider myself to be a runner. I ran for the cross country team in middle school and high school (mostly because cross country was a sport that did not have cuts; athletic I am not) and didn't do half bad. It was one of the few things that I worked hard at in high school, mainly because, when I started, I was really bad at it. In 7th grade, I finished dead last on the team in every race I ran.

But running is one of those activities that, if you do it enough, you will get better. And it doesn't require any specified skills either. Just go out and run, day after day, and you will improve. As opposed to mathematics, where you can sit for days without a creative idea, the only hard part about running is getting out the door. So through sheer determination, I improved myself to the point where, in my junior and senior years, I was one of the top five people on the varsity team. I even went to running camp in the Pocono Mountains. That was intense. We had two runs a day up and down mountains.

Running can be an incredibly rewarding activity, provided you can stay motivated. Unfortunately, after graduating high school, that motivation disappeared. I didn't get back into running on a consistent basis until this past summer. And let me tell you, the first month or so was brutal. But I found myself a group of runners, and signed up to run a half marathon last November. This provided all of the necessary incentive; I was determined not only to be able to finish it, but to finish it strong. I was able to get some long runs and speed workouts in, and I was ready to go.

Unfortunately, here in SoCal, while we don't get snow, we do get wildfires. And the day before the half marathon was to happen, there was a bad fire. The air was of such a poor quality that they had no choice but to cancel the race. No matter, I was in shape and I would run the next race. The next race happened to be the "Race With Grace," a Thanksgiving Day 10k back in my home town of Greece. There is nothing quite like running on a brisk November day in Upstate New York, especially after spending the previous 6 months in Los Angeles. But I sucked it up, got out there, and ended up finishing just under 50 minutes, which was precisely the time I was hoping for.

I had just achieved a difficult goal and was in great shape, so what was my next move? To take the next three months off, of course. That brings us to this past Monday, where I finally dragged my sorry butt out the door. Well I huffed and puffed and wasn't even able to finish the 4 mile loop. D'oh! However, I followed this up with runs Wednesday and Thursday morning with my friend Dylan, and I can already feel my lungs and legs getting better. Now, like so many other things in my life, the trick is to keep it up.

PS: Never, ever, under any circumstances call me Danny.