Depending on the Texas weather I generally look like one of these guys.
Josh Janicek is a run coach. He is not going to write this whole thing in the third person.
I can’t really peg a date or time period on which I started running, because we all started running not long after we barely got the hang of walking. I ran when all us kids in the neighborhood would play after school and on the weekends. I did the required running for peewee soccer and baseball, and then football and track in junior high. I wish I’d ran track and cross country in high school and college. I’ll bet I could’ve done some damage. I didn’t have a love of running back then.
I didn’t start running as a hobby and in earnest until July 11, 2013. I started running because I needed and wanted to get healthier. And because I couldn’t ride a bike. More on that later. I started running because:
- I was in my late-30’s and started having those existential thoughts of mortality.
- I’d led a sedentary and very unhealthy lifestyle for the previous 20 years.
- I had two young daughters.
- I was embarrassed and ashamed of the guy in the mirror.
- I was fat and, more importantly, unhealthy.
I started out running by walking to the middle school track that I’m lucky to have near my house. I ran one mile as hard and as fast as I could. I don’t know why on one mile. Some kind of benchmark, maybe. I don’t remember. I damn near died pushing that mile. I remember getting tunnel vision in the last 200 meters and then seeing stars when I slowed it to a walk after hitting the mile split.
I lucked out that evening of July 11, 2013. I’d pushed myself to the razor’s edge of excitement and pure physical exhaustion. After my heart rate came down and I could see straight again, I immediately thought, “that was fun. It sucked though. I’m going to do that again tomorrow. I’m going to run a mile again but I won’t run it fast.”
And that’s when I became a student of running. A sport that I’d chuckled at for all my life. I learned that you can make running what it needs to be for you. I can help you do that. Email me and let’s work together to get you to where you want to be.
I mostly run every day. I enjoy the sport of running for what it is. I begrudgingly started racing a year after I started running. But then I found a passion for racing and the training and planning that leads up to a big goal like a race. I quickly moved through the ranks of road races and ran my first marathon in Houston in 2016. I BQ’d (“Boston Qualified”) by two (2) seconds in my first marathon. That’s when I laughed because I was so close, and when I fell in love with the art and science of training and racing. I wanted to start learning as much as I could and as quickly as possible, so I decided to become a run coach. I am a Certified Road Runners Club of America Run Coach.
7-time Boston Marathon Qualifier. I’ve won some races. I’ve placed in some races and age divisions. I’ve ran the Grand Canyon rim-to-rim. I’ve run a few ultramarathons. I’m the cofounder of the Circle C Club. I’m the ACTIVE.com “Ask the Running Coach” coach. I like running. I’ll run on trails, roads, water, whatever.
