Off Trail: A Re-Introduction
Vol. 4 No. 22
Over 100 Subscribers on Substack!
With a slew of new subscribers and followers in the recent weeks I thought this mid-week read should be a re-introduction of who I am and what I’m doing on Substack. I appreciate all my friends who are following my journey and those who found me online, thank you. I hope you find this publication to be entertaining, real, insightful and maybe even motivational to take on your own goals.
My name is Jesse, and I’m an addict.
I’m addicted to running. This hasn’t always been the case. There was a time in my life when running was downright torture and then punishment. I have strong convictions that running is natural to the human condition, however it’s never been easy. You can read about my initial journey into running on my second posting ever, back in July of 2022 titled: The Trailhead.
I’ve been running for 26 years now, never been “great” at it despite my love of competition. I never won any of the races during Field Day in primary school and to date I’ve only ever taken 1st place once. That was nearly 20 years ago while serving in the Republic of Korea for the U.S. Army and I won the “Thunder Olympics” 10-miler. I didn’t win because I was the fastest, I won because I was the toughest. It was -20F and during the 70-ish minutes it took me to run it we got over 4” of snow.
I served 13 years in the U.S. Army with the majority of that being in America’s Guard of Honor, the 82nd Airborne Division. It was there that I fell in love the first time with running. We ran often and we ran fast. The furthest distances we ran was about 10-miles as that was the Army’s premier running distance in Washington, D.C. I don’t think I ever breached a top 100 finish on Fort Bragg in all those years.
During my stint in the service I got to run in a lot of places, to include but not limited to North Carolina, Oklahoma, Louisiana, California, Korea, Kuwait and Iraq. While I was never great at running, I enjoyed leading my Paratroopers from the front and have completed multiple Army 10-milers.
After the service I stopped running, as most Veteran’s do and I gained weight, as most Veteran’s do. I blew up and lost my love of running. My weight nearly peaked at 240lbs when I decided to change things up. During a rotation to Afghanistan as a Logistics Analyst, I decided to slim down, start running and completed the Army 10-miler Shadow Run on Kandahar Airfield in 2013.
Following a stint in Afghanistan we moved back to North Carolina and I continued my running solo for a few years. I helped my wife train for her first and only Half Marathon where she finished in 2:09. I continued to run local races, never winning but always enjoying the competition. That’s when I found the Clayton Area Runners! My hometown was having a 5K Road Race and that’s when I found this amazing group of loosely associated people who gathered together weekly to run. I was hooked. I’m a people person and I found my people.
After a few years of running with the club, they voted and decided to make me the “Club President” of the newly formed 501(c)3. This put me in an awkward position. My entire life I’ve only known one way to lead, and that’s from the front.
How can I possibly be the President of a Run Club and lead this organization without ever having run a Marathon or a Half Marathon before!?
It was then that I decided to run my first Marathon. The City of Oaks Marathon in Raleigh, NC. It was a disaster.
I finished the Marathon, however I almost DNF’d at 5:52 and it was absolutely miserable. You can read about that miserable experience on my post from November, 2022 titled: Marathon Finisher
That piss poor performance only fueled me for a "Redemption Race”! So I signed up for America’s Friendliest Marathon. The Richmond, VA Marathon. I hired a Running Coach and dedicated hours and effort to training. It paid off! I finished that race in 4:19! Although the last 10K were absolutely miserable, I felt I could have done better. That post was available back in November 2023, titled: The Marathon: My Race in Richmond.
That race was amazing, not because I increased my Marathon time by over 90 minutes, but because my run club traveled there in big numbers. The train up for the Race was full of long-runs with friends and many friendships were established and cemented in that time.
Since the winter of 2023 I’ve been maintaining running with the club, running 4-5x a week and enjoying the social aspect of the sport. It was in June 2024 that I decided to Qualify for Boston! A near-to-impossible task given my last two performances.
I’m in my mid-40’s and while I have been a lifetime runner, my Qualification Standard of 3:15 for Boston seems so incredibly difficult. Yet, I’m going for it!
The Long Run is an exploration into the mental, physical, emotional and social elements of running. It’s a place where I can document my journey, not just for myself but for my two adult-kids, my wife and my friends. An online journal where I can look back and see where I’ve been, what I’ve done and how I felt in those moments. I hope you find entertainment and knowledge in my stories.
Running and training for a Marathon is difficult.
It takes time and effort. Two things that I have to manage carefully.
I’ve been happily married for over 20years to the same woman and I’m eternally grateful and thankful she supports me in this quest to Qualify for Boston. I have two adult-kids and will soon be an “empty nester” as the youngest one ships off to college in the fall. I work full time and also assist my wife in running our small business, that while lucrative, takes an immense amount of focus, time and effort.
Add into that my volunteer hours with Clayton Area Runners, something I look forward to because I feel like I can make an impact in peoples lives. Even if I can make the slightest of positive impacts, I feel good about it.
I’m starting to build my “public” facing profiles on Instagram and Facebook. Not sure if I’ll ever have the time or inclination to start a YouTube channel. Maybe when I start my formal Marathon Training in October but you’ll have to subscribe and follow my journey to stay up to date.
Welcome to The Long Run and I look forward to your feedback, comments and messages.
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