How six friends whipped a couch potato into a half marathon runner — all online (1)
I was panting.
I was completely out of breath.
I thought I might just collapse on Embarcadero. I must have been running for quite a while now.
I was dying.
Too much running was about to finish me off!
And I glanced at the Fitbit watch on my wrist, expecting tens of minutes’ running duration.
45 seconds!
I ran the grand total of 45 seconds and thought I was dying of running.
It was a chilly morning of San Francisco back in January.
Fast forward, I ran 13.1miles on July 28th for the 1st Half of the San Francisco Biofreeze Marathon. I ran 2 hours 48 minutes straight. Did the “too much running” finish me off? Nope, I already ran another race of 12km (Bridge to Bridge, on Aug 25th) and signed up for two more half marathons in September and November.
Don’t get me wrong. I am still very slow, nowhere near the front line runners. It’s easier to find me from the bottom of the runners’ official record stack. However, I am still in awe that I could have run this much, and this far.
Here’s some background to it.
Throughout my entire life of 40+ years, I fought valiantly against sweating and panting, let alone running long distances. I grew up in the strict educational system in South Korea, where they tested your physical ability as a part of periodic academic tests. I used to beg my PE teachers to let me just fail and get 0 points for the 800 meters (=0.5 mile) running test without running it. I hated running that much. And such personal distaste for cardio workout never changed over the years. I was the definition case of a couch potato in many ways for so long. Then what happened to me this year?
Last year, I left the startup I cofounded three years earlier. After three years of nonstop startup’ing (God knows what it all includes), I ended up with a serious lack of sleep and inevitable weight gain (my weight crept up to the range I haven’t seen since pregnancy). To make matters worse, I was diagnosed with hypertension and put on the medication schedule. My doctor had been preaching about cardio, which I’ve been waving her off for so long. Finally, it was the time I couldn’t pretend there’s no need to change anymore.
So, I wrote down in my 2019 resolutions:
Run 5K twice this year. (Ha. Ha. Ha.)
I remember that I felt defeated even before I finish writing that resolution line. I knew I didn’t have enough willpower to push through the persistent running practice. I knew that I would try once or twice then make endless excuses not to go out for running. The image of myself copying and pasting the same goal to the 2020 resolutions flashed in my head. I doubted whether this year would be ever different from all other years when I had similar goals and failed miserably.
This year was different!
In this year, my weak willpower was outsourced to a stronger force — my friends!
This year, I had a small and tight group of friends for a daily group chat. It started as a small writing group of seven friends and friends of friends. We bonded over the writings we shared with each other but soon formed further rapport in life and career in general. We were spread on three continents, and some of us never met each other in person. But this group has become a safe place, a robust support network, and exchange for inspiration. I call these friends “Board of Directors of my life.” The group was formed to give us the accountability of writing persistently in our busy lives, but soon we started to use it for many other accountabilities too.
When I finally ran out of excuses and went out to the road to jog lasting for the grand total of 45 seconds, it was the 14th of January. From then to the SF Half Marathon on July 28th, within six months and two weeks, my friends made me keep going for morning runs, rain or shine, at home or on trips. It was well beyond what my feeble willpower would have ever done.
As I still marvel at what happened to me and my willpower in this process, I’d like to put it into writing. Stay tuned for the next posts!