My Path to Running Marathons at the age of 16
An unabridged tale of families and triumph
To understand my story, one must understand the circumstances, in which I was in. Up until I was sixteen years old, I was always challenged at maintaining a healthy body weight. This could be due to my conversion from a German to an American diet, or genetics. None the less, I struggled to have a good relationship with food, and as a result, I weighed almost one-hundred and eighty pounds as a sixteen-year-old, I was five foot ten at the time.
The Why?
As I turned sixteen my uncle confessed to my family that he was battling cancer, and it was not just any type of cancer, but pancreatic cancer. This is the same type of cancer that the beloved Steve Jobs, battled, and passed away from. My uncle was such a role model in my life, and he not only inspired me but my entire family. My mother came from a family of twelve and her father died shortly after her birth so her uncle stepped in that leadership role for the family, and as an Ethiopian, the family is of the utmost importance.
I would compare my great uncle to Vito Corleone, from the classic God Father films. I would say this because he was the breadwinner in the family, and he would support everyone. When I say everyone, I really mean everyone. He brought people from Ethiopia to the United States to purpose higher education. In my childhood, he would constantly visit me and my family in Germany. He would always stress the importance of family. He would take the time to read us bedtime stories and go on walks. As I got older, we would play chess for hours, and he would love to always give me books to read. My affinity for reading has defiantly transcended through him. I would say besides my own parents my late Uncle has had the greatest influence in my life.
So in light of his sickness, and my weight problems, I cultivated a creative solution to both.
I remember just watching YouTube videos of Casey Neistat running ten miles a day, and saying to myself, “oh that does not look so hard”. After coming back from school one day, I just felt very mediocre, and I started researching marathons. After a few days, I informed my parents of my plan on running the Philadelphia Marathon, and I was going to run to motive, my Uncle. After my announcement to my parents, I quickly ran and phoned my Uncle. I told him of my plans and I wanted to emphasize that if I was able to complete the marathon he should have no problem beating his sickness. Mind you, this is in May, and the marathon is in November.
At this point in my life, I have never run for any team or program, and I played basketball very leisurely. My only timed running event was the mile, and it took me twenty-four minutes and fifty-eight seconds to run one mile. Naturally, my father was a bit skeptical and asked if I was really going to train for this event. I had friends laugh at me when I told them I was running a marathon. I would get the question, “do you know how long it is”. In my mind, I would say “do you know who I am?”, but I would always note the way I was spoken to. I am a person who is very much self-motivated. I double down on my weakness. It is all about your mindset.
The Mind Set:
What I learned very quickly is that your mind set is EVERYTHING. You right now could run a marathon if you wanted to, regardless of fitness, weight, age, experience, or even ability. The key to achieving anything great in life, is consisteny and perseverance. To fully commit to the subject at hand, and mentally finishing what you start, is a vital skill needed in order to accomplish anything diffcult. The greatest thing about running is that you can do it any where, at any time, and all you need is shoes (well at least sometimes). So in the summer of 2018 I ran almost every day. Staying committed was the hardest thing for me. Going from never running to running for fun on a daily basis was such a drastic change for me. I started to experience a lot of pain, but I constantly reminding myself that pain is temporary. I was so determined to make my uncle feel better, I became completely obsessed with running.
I found myself watching running videos on how to create a better running stride and I bought real running shoes. Up to that point, I was running in some basketball shoes I found in the lost and found. Towards the end of the summer, I started to run 10 miles on the weekend, and right before school started I did my first proper long run and ran 22 miles. There is no greater feeling than waking up at 4 am on a Sunday morning and running 22 miles, the rest of your day will feel amazing. Running not only helped my physical condition, but it improved my mental conditioning as well.
Running brings such clarity, it is comparable to being in a meditative state.
As the school year approached, I decided to join the cross country, as a junior, which is fairly unusual, joining a running team without any prior experience so late into high school. Nonetheless, I joined with an optimistic attitude. I recall asking the running coach if I would be able to join the team during lunch, and him asking me what the longest I have run, I was so nervous. At the time, I did not know what I was about to get into. I went to practice the next day, and I was properly introduced to the world of running. What I found most peculiar was that, unlike any sport, Coach Bielecki was actually participating in the practice. He was running with everyone else. I think this speaks volumes on the sport of running, anyone can do it, regardless of age. Coach Bielecki has made an indelible impact on my running career, and I am forever indebted to him. He himself being a seasoned marathon runner gave me some vital advice, and taught me the importance of recovery, something that was foreign to me. But I am not the first one who has been positively impacted by running, nor will I be the last.
Joining the cross country gave me the perfect medium in, which I could truly devote my time and energy to running properly.
The Marathon Day:
Honorable mention to my childhood best friend, Menelik Duey, who decided to run this Marathon only within a week’s notice. Menelik comes from a more physically conditioned background, but we both had no prior running experience. So Menelik stays at my house, the night before, with the rest of my relatives who came from all over the world to support me. My 98-year-old grandmother even came from Ethiopia to watch me run.
As my toe stepped on the starting line I knew I was going to finish this race.
Running 120 Miles in the weeks prior had definitely helped me, but I think what helped me the most was having a reminder of what I was running for. In the photos above you can see I have names written on all over my arms. These are the names of the people I am running for. This allows me to visualize my goal better. I also would wear the flag of the country, with which I identify myself, Ethiopia. Naturally, this is also extremely motivating, simply representing your country in any forum can be exhilarating. I would also wear the bracelet of this girl named Izzy, that said “Izzy Strong”. I did not know this girl, but I heard of her story from serval friends of mine, and I thought it was so inspiring that I need to wear it as well. Izzy was also sixteen at the time and she just was recently diagnosed with cancer, and she was just going through therapy (Izzy eventually overcame her sickness, and is doing fine now. I wear her bracelet at all my running events).
The Marathon itself was one of the best experiences I have ever been apart of, despite losing my friend Menelik at mile 10, I was still able to enjoy the run with the groups of people around me. I would be frantically looking at my running watch to see the pace, at which I was running, and then take some running gels every now and then. Mile 18 came, and this was the biggest test I had to face. This was the moment, I “hit the wall”, my legs felt as if they could possibly not move any further. I needed to stop, but I could not. My body was screaming in pain, I could feel the weight of my body lumbering on my knees. But my heart and mind refused. I closed my eyes and took a few deep breaths. I reminded myself the pain was just a fraction of the pain that my Uncle was experiencing. With these thoughts swirling through my head, I convinced myself that the pain was just something momentary, that would not last. The 8.2 miles following were some of the hardest and most painful moments of my life, but I enjoyed every bit of it. I do not mean this in a sadistic type of way, but rather finishing the marathon felt even better because of the pain.
That is why you must enjoy the pain.
The Finish Line:
As I passed through the finish line, I had this incredible euphoric feeling, because I knew now anything I set my mind to I could achieve. I finished the marathon with the fastest time in my age group and was awarded two different medals(my marathon time was 4:03:28, which is at an average of 9 minutes and 17 seconds per mile). After finishing I just embraced my family and started shedding tears of joy. My insatiable hunger for more did not stop, I quickly informed my parents that I would be running another marathon. I have been running a marathon every year since I was 16. I am currently 18, but I plan on continuing my running. This past year, I ran the New York Marathon and placed 11th for my age group at a marathon time of 3 hours and 30 mins. This year I plan on completing my first Ironman in Twain. I have ambitions to also do the bad water ultra marathon before the age of 21. I am a firm believer, in you can accomplish anything you set your mind to.
Main Points:
consistency and perseverance is the key to achieving anything great in life
Surround yourself with people who Run
Always Stay Hungry, do not be satisfied if you think you can do better.
Enjoy the Pain
*This article is dedicated to Tegegne Haile, who bought me my first proper running shoes.
