He Quit 5 Times

I'm working on a Hershey Recap, and will have that for you soon. But today, I want to briefly share with you the times Roger quit training for the Hershey Half. I'm sharing this, because he ultimately went and completed the Half Marathon on Sunday, and beat his Half Marathon PR.

Roger has been the most athletic person I have met. He did Cheerleading in High School, he taught gymnastics in his 20s, he has been doing and teaching aikido for over 20 years. When we met again* he had run 3 half marathons and a few 5Ks. He also swore to me that he was done with any running past 3 miles.

(*I first met Roger in 2000, we stayed friends and reconnected in 2012)

April 2016
During Training for the Marathon, Roger declared that he was completely done with running. He swore then that he would not run another mile after the marathon. He was tired of always being sore, always being tired and all the time that Marathon training took.



May 2016
We ran the Kennett Run 5K, and he ran more miles that month than me. He hurt his calves at the end of the month and swore again, that he would not run again. Not even the Hershey half.



June 2016
When Registration opened for the Hershey Half, I told him that I was registering myself and the Love Nugget. He asked me to register him too. I opened my eyes really wide and asked "Really?" He said Yes.



Early July 2016
While running on his own, he hurt his calf again. He said that he was in a lot of pain, and was going to be dropping out of the Hershey Half.

Late July 2016
A week before the Harrisburg Mile, he started having back pain. He declared to me, that he was done with running, and would be dropping out of the Hershey half *again*. By this point, I would just nod and ask how he was feeling. The day of the Harrisburg Mile, he signed up and raced.



August 2016
We were out doing sprints, and while he was running, he had a sharp pain on his left quad. This was a few days before we were leaving for the Summer Aikido Seminar. He once again swore off running, and the Hershey Half Marathon. He cursed and scream all the way back to the car.



September 2016
The back pain was back, and he refused to come with me to the Bird In Hand Half. And told me again, that He would not be running the Hershey Half. By this point, I had stopped acknowledging this comments.

 

He ran Philadelphia RnR Half as a training run.

And Sunday, after all the pain, after swearing off running, he got up and he ran Hershey Half. He beat his best Half Marathon time by 2 minutes, a PR from 9 years ago.

98% of Roger's tanks are blue. He owns only 2 other colors, one black and one white. This is not related to his running, but it thought it was interesting that in most of the pictures he is wearing blue.



Comments

  1. I guess this goes to show that he is not a quitter! Kudos to him! What's next for him?

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    1. Thanks Meranda, You are too kind! I said something much meaner to him.

      We talked about another marathon, but we'll decide later this month.

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  2. Roger sounds OH SO SIMILAR to Andrew! Lol! Andrew swears he will never run another marathon, and he always does! And then he hates it, swears he won't do it again, then he does, etc etc. Silly boys.

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    1. Roger and Andrew can be the boys who cried "I give up Half/full Marathons!"

      I think for Roger is about missing out, he doesn't want to miss out on the medals.

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  3. Ha, this is an interesting journey! I can understand the doubts with all the pain and injuries though.

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    1. Thank you Chaitali! he surprised me by sticking with his training!

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  4. Wow Roger sure swears off running a lot! I did notice all the blue, thanks for the clarification, haha!

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    1. Running is the one thing he swears off once a week, I used to tell him he was being overly dramatic, but I've learned that's how he communicates frustrations.

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  5. I think he has 3 of that blue shirt, he loves it!

    Roger does very well at venting, but he picks himself up again and again.

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  6. LOL that's so funny. I have learned to never say never. Hopefully he will learn that too. :)

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