DIY Running
Exploits of a middle-aged, random dude looking to stay in shape and see how far he can push his body – while staying healthy and spending time with his family
A list of items I’ve tried along my journey
Ways I’ve customized my experience
Supplements / fuel / hydration
This site is a work in progress
I’m not a professional Athlete
but I dig the grind
I’ve been into fitness and health for most of my life. Running was always part of something else, but never the main course – until 2018. That’s when I started participating in a group fitness program called F3 and met some guys who did ultras. During bootcamp-style workouts and runs they would talk about the pain and agony of pushing their bodies beyond known limits… and loving it. I was baffled, and intrigued, and in no way wanted to do what they were talking about. But over time they broke me down and now I’m on of “those people”.
It started with a team ultra. This is where they assure you’ll only run short sections at a time and then take a long break. By the end of it I had logged over 32 miles and that’s when I started to believe that maybe I could do this stuff. One of these buddies puts on a 24-hour fundraiser run for a local non-profit each December. He got me out there for that and I ran 50 miles before needing to call it quits. But holy cow, I never thought I could do that. From there it became a quest to see if I could complete 100 miles in one go, and then a trail 100-miler. Now I do three 100-milers a year.
About Me
“Discomfort is the gate to greatness.”
I like to learn from others then find my own way with things, which is why I like to DIY and hack solutions. I find that by doing the work to find success I have a better understanding of how the system operates. In these running endeavors, that system is my body, and I’m kind of invested in it working as well as possible. My efforts to run faster and train smarter have resulted in better overall health practices. I’m more informed about how my behavior and choices impact my performance and due to the whole aging and longevity thing, I’m in it for the long haul.
Friends and family have benefited from the research and testing I’ve done on myself, so this is a space to provide greater luck-surface area for the few people who might stumble upon it.
Grandfather Mountain, 2022