JIHYE'S RUNNING STORY
I first started running track and cross country back in high school while living in San Antonio, but when I went to UTSA my focus shifted to my studies and I stopped running. After graduating from UTSA and moving to Houston to start with KPMG, it was a difficult time as I was suddenly away from friends and family in an unknown place. Even though Houston is not far from San Antonio it might as well have been Chicago since I knew no one. I decided to start running to have a hobby outside of work and also to help me overcome an eating disorder that I had struggled with since high school.
​
Running for me became an activity that I looked forward to almost every day. Whether running with Kenyan Way at one of their Saturday long runs or meeting friends at Memorial Park at 5:00 AM during the week, running was a way for me to set aside the stress from work and life. Also, through running I was able to build confidence about my appearance and completely overcame my eating disorder.
Over time, what started off as a hobby, became a habit and a way for me to compete with myself. I soon began signing up and running marathons – first the one in my hometown of San Antonio, then Houston, Chicago, San Francisco, Cologne (Germany) and finally Boston. After accomplishing the one in Boston I began doing longer runs, including a 30-miler around Huntsville State Park and ultimately running a 50-miler at the Tahoe Rim Trail in Utah.
​
One thing I have always loved about running is the new friendships I’ve made along the way. Some of my dearest friends today are those that I ran with. It is amazing how over the course of a 15-mile training run you can go from being a stranger to getting to know someone pretty well. And unlike work and school, what I realized about running was that age didn’t matter at all. Some of my besties that I ran with were my age and some were twice my age, but what we all shared in common was a love for running. No one really cared if we were decades apart in age and career; what mattered more was what pace someone was aiming for during the run so that people could partner up with others that would challenge them.
​
While a life of running will have its challenges (eventually we all get sick before a race day or experience an injury that sets us back), it has for me been one of the greatest hobbies that I could have asked for. It is the perfect thing to challenge one both physically and mentally. It’s helped me overcome an eating disorder, gave me some of the best friends in the world, took me to other cities, put my body in great shape and challenged me to keep going when I wanted to give up. One great quote I love is, “I don’t run to add days to my life, I run to add life to my days.” – Ronald Rook.
JOHN'S RUNNING STORY
I’ll be the first to say I was never a distance runner. When I ran track in high school, I used to see the cross country athletes and think to myself “how in the world do they run so far.” When graduating college and working in Houston I would do the typical ‘run a lap around Memorial Park’ every now and then to stay in shape but that 3-mile loop was about as far I would go. It wasn’t until I met my future wife and she kicked my butt in running a lap around Memorial Park that I realized I had better step up my game on running.
​
So in 2012 I began training with Kenyan Way and signed up for the 2013 Houston Marathon. All was going well until 3 days before the race I came down with the flu, stayed in bed mostly for the next two days and then woke up Sunday and ran the marathon. Needless to say I was very disappointed in my time and felt like I had wasted all that time training. I swore I’d never do it again. After my emotions returned to normal, I decided I would give it another go so I signed up for the 2014 marathon. A month before that race I sprained my ankle playing basketball and didn’t run, and then I signed up again for the 2015 race only to pull my hamstring two months before it while racing a friend in a sprint. After that happened I decided three strikes and I’m out, told my wife I’m done with distance running and that I wasn’t going to try again (or so I thought).
​
Then in June of 2017 we had our first son, Noah. Realizing I wanted to teach my son that life lesson that dads do at some point – “if at first you don’t succeed, try and try again”, I knew I couldn’t let my past running failures keep me down. So late summer of 2018 I signed up for the 2019 Houston marathon and began training. Given the prior embarrassments of running a slow time and having to drop out twice due to injuries I decided not to join a running group and instead did all of my runs solo. Call it pride or fear, I would be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous that the 2019 race was going to end in another letdown and as such I kept it kind of low key that I was even running it.
​
Eventually January 20, 2019 rolled around and I was pumped. I hadn’t had an injury, I was healthy and the weather couldn’t be more perfect. I took my place in Corral B (since I hadn’t run a race in years), and waited for my turn to start. 26.2 miles later I crossed the finish line at 3:27:24 and finally felt what they call a runner’s high. I was elated!
​
The next fall I joined RacePace, made a lot of great running friends, ran two half marathons in early 2020 (hitting a PR of 1:32:55), and was signed up to run with a team on the 200-mile Texas Independence Relay in April. Although Covid-19 came along and ruined that plan, I do know that my best running days are still ahead. I know I will never be an elite runner but that’s ok. I did learn an invaluable lesson along the way and that is – if at first you don’t succeed, try and try again!
