Friday Spotlight: RedKryptonite
What it do!?! It's the end of the week and we're ready to run. Put down the cake and let's log some miles.
Today's Spotlight athlete has been seen bouncing around quite a lot lately giving advice and always frequenting our general chit-chat. I was excited to see last week's Spotlight runner nominate him because he's yet another frequenter that I only know a little about. So instead of just seeing the tip of the iceberg, let's dive in and see what the rest of the story is. Ladies and gentlemen, this week's featured runner - /u/ RedKryptonite!
Let's roll.
###The Runner:
First Name?
Steve.
Age?
48
Where are you from?
York, PA.
Occupation?
Graphic designer.
###The Running Q&A's:
What are your PR’s?
1 mile: 6:18
5K (Pick one): Race (short by .03 mi): 21:01, Training: 21:19, Race (correct distance): 21:34
10K (in training): 46:03
Half-marathon (in training): 1:50:23
How long have you been running?
About a year and a half. Started walking in May of 2014 and transitioned to running in January/February 2015.
Briefly explain why you began running?
Inspired by a friend of mine lost a lot of weight by walking, I took it up because I stepped on the scale and weighed over 200 pounds for the first time in my life. I couldn't climb a flight of stairs without being out of breath. After five months of walking laps around my neighborhood and watching my diet, I lost 40 pounds. I wanted to go faster, so I started running on the downhill portions of my laps and speed walking the uphills. When it got too cold, I joined a gym and hit the treadmill and learned how to pace myself to run a full hour. Then when the weather warmed up, I started running the laps around my neighborhood and became a "full-time" runner. In that time, I also dropped another 20 pounds, but I've put 5 or 10 back on this winter. :/
Most memorable running moment?
Probably just participating in the Rocky Run 5K in 2015. Before that, I had only run small local races; this one had over 3000 entrants, and I somehow managed the top 50 and second in my age group. More than that, I'm just not a traveler at all, but this one helped me to realize the possibility that going somewhere to run a race can be really, really fun.
Do you have a running mantra?
Sometimes when I'm flagging on an uphill or just don't feel like going out for a run, I think, "Do you want to get stronger or what?" Pretty straightforward question and the answer is almost always yes, so it keeps me going.
What’s your highest recorded weekly mileage?
52.8.
What time of day do you prefer to run?
I like running after work in the early evening, even though that means most of my runs are done when I'm hungry and tired. It's a good way to unwind after a day of sitting in front of the computer.
Any big races coming up?
The NASA 5K Moonwalk and Run in Langley, Virginia on June 4 is the one I'm most looking forward to because it has an awesome medal and it's at freakin' NASA's Langley Research Center. The CASA Superhero 5K in Landisville, PA on June 11 is a fun one. Last year's race was my very first one. I might try to wear a Flash costume this year, but I'm having trouble finding a decent mask (or someone with the skill to make one that's not going to cost $250). Skipping ahead a bit, I hope to run the Baltimore Running Festival 5K in October. My brother and sister might join me for that one.
What are your short-term running goals?
I really want to break 20 in the 5K, but I'm realizing that might not be realistic for me without some speedwork under my belt, so let's just say I want to break 21:00 in the 5K this year and leave it at that. Maybe a sub-6:00 mile, too.
What are your long-term running goals?
Sub-20:00 5K. I'm more of a 5K guy, but I wouldn't mind BQing. Since I kind of hate long runs, my ridiculous fantasy is to train and run a BQ on my first try next year when I can qualify under the age 50 standard. The sucky part about this plan is then I'd have to run two marathons. :) I also joke with my friends that I'm training for the Senior Olympics, but I'm sort of being serious, I think. I want to be that 95 year old guy breaking all the world records by default.
What’s one piece of running advice you’d give to the younger version of yourself?
Start sooner. I pretty much stopped any exercise when I bought my first computer back in 1992. It's like I sat down in 1992 and didn't get out of my computer chair until 2014.
What is something you need to work on to become a better runner?
Discipline. I get out there every day, but I'm a run-by-feel guy and don't really follow any kind of plan. That was fine for the first year or so of running with all the exciting n00b gainz, but I think I'm starting to hit a sophomore slump where I'm not PRing every couple of weeks like before and it's kind of a bummer. I may be scraping the limits of where an old dude like me can go without a plan in place, but I'm stubbornly resistant because of my fear of turning running into a joyless experience that I don't look forward to.
What is your current shoe choice?
I am totally in love with my Saucony Triumph ISOs. So plush and the upper is super-comfortable.
What’s your comfy pace?
I'll say 8:45/mile even though I rarely run that. I'm impatient and stupid and get all excited about being outside and running that I'm usually in the 8:15-8:30 range.
Trail? Road? Track? Or Treadmill?
Road.
What is your ideal running weather?
Low 60s and slightly overcast is pretty nice. Ideally, the sun would be out when I'm running east and under clouds when I'm running west. :)
Do you have any social media accounts you’d like to share?
###Just For Fun:
What’s your spirit animal?
My cat Sherman. It's probably a little weird that I consider Sherman my best friend. My best human friend got a little offended when I told him that, until I explained that Sherman lets me hold him like a teddy bear when I go to sleep every night.
What hobbies and interests do you have besides running?
I collect/hoard toys and comic books. (Helllloooo, ladies!) If I had to guess, I'd say I have between 15,000 and 20,000 comics, but I have never counted them. I'm a huge Superman fan and run a web site called Collecting Superman where I show off pictures of some of my Superman junk and write a little bit about their history, but I haven't been updating like I did since I took up running.
Do you have any hidden talents?
Not so much a talent, but I somehow got drafted into hand modeling for some packaging I designed. It's good I know Photoshop retouching is all I'm saying.
Biggest pet peeve?
I diffuse a lot of my road rage over turn signals by saying loudly, "IF ONLY THERE WERE SOME WAY!" as in "If only there were some way, some invention or device or light, where you could indicate to others where your vehicle might be traveling next. If only someone had the genius to invent such a thing! IF ONLY THERE WERE SOME WAY!" I make myself laugh, at least.
What songs have you been listening to recently?
I am old and completely out of it as far as music goes. I don't even know how to make a playlist. As an 80s new wave/punk guy, I listen to Amazon's The Smiths radio channel when I'm running; I used to cycle between the Muse channel and 80s new wave music before Pandora crapped out on my phone for some inexplicable reason. Embarrassingly enough, I've had the same burned CD playing in my car for the past two or three years... on that CD are albums by Boston, The Smiths, a Japanese band called Spoozys (kind of like a high speed Devo), The Sugarcubes, The Hives, The Cure, and Skrillex.
What are some of your favorite non-running subreddits?
I don't really go outside of r/running very often, but I occasionally flip through r/comicbooks, r/superman, and r/redsox.
###One Last Question:
What is the origin of your username?
Most non-comics fans are familiar with Kryptonite, the substance that's Superman's biggest weakness. There are different colors of Kryptonite with different effects, and Red Kryptonite is a type that causes Superman (and Kryptonians) to exhibit bizarre behavior and go through strange transformations.
I really appreciate /u/ RedKryptonite taking the time to let us know a bit more about him. Pretty cool how Sherman let's you treat him like a teddy bear, I'm pretty jealous. My cats would much rather stare at me from the door way as they vomit on the carpet . As usual, please tag/u/ RedKryptonite's username when personally asking him a question in this thread! Also, if I see that you've failed to tag him after asking him a question, I'll try my best to respond to your question by tagging him myself. So be aware. Tagging RedKryptonite's username alerts him that his attention is needed. This way, he doesn't have to sift through all of the comments one by one, which can be a rather daunting task when there is a lot of traffic to the thread. Please don't forget that all of our Friday Spotlight athletes may need time to respond to your comments and questions so give them some time to reply. Afterall, a man with 20,000 comic books and a hand modeling career is going to be a busy man! Best of luck to you RedKryptonite in reaching that sub-20 5k...I'm right behind you!
####Thanks for reading everyone!!!
Previously Featured Spotlight Runners:
ATTENTION READERS!
I've been getting messages weekly from a lot of people asking to be featured in the Friday Spotlight Thread. My response to them is the same every time. I do not get to personally choose who is chosen for each thread. With exception to Palindrome27 (which I randomly chose to get this started), every runner thus far has been selected by the person before them. It's one of the perks of getting nominated. There is no list of names. No spreadsheet with columns and columns of usernames. Nothing. So for those confused, users like Philpips was chosen by Despoena. Despoena was chosen by Craigster38. So on and so on. You get the idea. Doing it this way eliminates the hassle of having to personally pick someone every week. This keeps me neutral. Some of you have expressed your opinion (via PM) on who's been featured this far claiming that I have only chosen runners who are fast, have been running for a while, or compete in longer distance races. This is simply luck of the draw. There is zero favoritism here. Each featured runner gets to personally pick someone they find interesting. I apply no pressure to the runners to pick a particular skill level of runner. This is the beauty of the process. If you want to be featured, you can up your chances of being chosen by being an active member of the subreddit. Comment as much as possible. Submit quality content. Provide as much as you can as a runner to help keep this community growing and I'm certain your efforts will not go unnoticed. Just keep tuning in and making friends and eventually it'll pay off if you want to be featured. Thank you.
Posted Apr 15, 2016, 11:56 AM UTC · edited